Ah! The following day
by zeroIQ
Summary: Getting married is never really simple for anyone, let alone a certain mortal and his goddess. One might expect that with the hard part out of the way, the rest would be just an ordinary married life. But with those two and the ones around them, there is no such thing as ordinary...
1. Chapter 1

Like many other fan of the series, I was saddened by the somewhat abrupt end of the manga and wondered what would the future hold for the characters. What's going to happen to their lives from that point on? That's what got me started getting a few ideas, which eventually evolved in this story. I hope that you'll find it enjoyable, especially considering the fact that this is my first real attempt of writing my own story.

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series.

* * *

Nekomi, a quiet city near Tokyo, known for its institute of technology and amongst other thing, the pranks that its members usually pull. Despite that, during the last few years more and more unusual events have occurred in the city that would make its residents rather curious. The occasional lightning out of the sky, the sound of a distant explosion, weird lights, or even the appearance of Fenrir, the giant wolf of doom and destruction. Most of the times those events were easily dismissed by the masses who either considered them as elaborate pranks by the members of NIT or for some unknown reason payed no attention to them at all.

Such was the case with the latest situation that easily topped most of the previous ones. A full scale assault of random and superficial if not downright stupid wishes that were granted left and right, with little discrimination or logic behind them. The ones responsible behind such an act were none others than the demons, who during a coup led by the demoness Hagall and her group of followers, seized control of Niflheim by sealing Hild, their Daimakaicho, and started to grant all those wishes in hopes to aggressively increase the demon's market share, in hopes of creating the perfect world for them. Since their previous leader's term was about to end, just as well as her life due to one demonic law that dictated it, Hagall did all this in hopes to achieve the dreams of her predecessor, who also happened to be her idol as well as the closest thing that she ever had for a real parent.

But thanks to the fact that Hild also had a one thousandth part of herself still on Earth in the form of a childlike version of her and the help of the three goddesses, who lived there for the past few years, plus a certain mortal who wished for a goddess to be by his side forever, the situation finally changed back to whatever one might consider as normal.

Hild was the Daimakaicho once again by exploiting some paragraph in the demon code that allowed such a thing, in the case of a coup, a development that greatly pleased Hagall since her role model of a demoness was safe for the time being and back into her rightful position. The careless wishes were negated with most of the damage caused fixed already, thanks to Peorth and Lind, the two goddesses left behind on Earth while the others faced their own trials in Niflheim. Everything was almost back at its previous state, nearly unaffected by this sudden turn of events.

One thing did change though. The relationship between one mortal Keiichi, and Belldandy, his goddess girlfriend, who now was officially his wife. Everyone expected that the couple would marry at one point or another, but nobody expected it was going to happen under such circumstances, right in the middle of such a major event in Niflheim. And with everything happening within a single day, it was without doubt that everybody involved were both physically and emotionally drained, wanting nothing more than the day to finally come to an end at last.

But that wasn't the case. After the two were married in an official ceremony, they happened to run into Megumi Morisato and Chihiro, who were apparently on their way to Keiichi's house, in order to celebrate his nearly forgotten birthday that was also on the same day. Keiichi originally thought that it would have been for the best to hold another ceremony, this time one for mortals in order for his family and friends to attend. However, that plan was doomed now that proverbial cat was out of the bag. After both the women overcame the shock of seeing Belldandy in a wedding dress and Keiichi into a mixed up getup that somehow resembled what a groom might wear, they called everyone they knew. And news seem to travel fast in the mortal realm. Due to that, the originally intended party became a much bigger event and far more special in more than one ways.

Most of the people that showed up, had a hard time to understand why the couple married so suddenly, and without inviting anyone on top of that. Some wondered if it was a case of a shotgun marriage, though everyone agreed that Morisato didn't have the guts to get himself into a situation like that. Others suggested that maybe Belldandy's family wanted to get her into an arranged marriage, and she ended up marrying Keiichi to avoid it. The young engineer could only wonder how could those guys come up with such ideas that would better fit a fictional work. Ironically though the real cause of that particular turn of events was far more outlandish than any of those things.

Crazy scenarios aside, Keiichi still had to explain the reason behind the fact that nobody was invited or even informed. After a few attempts to come up with a plausible excuse, he just went on saying that it was due to some obscure custom from Belldandy's homeland that required couples to marry in a private ceremony instead of a public one. That was an obvious lie of course, but everyone seemed to accept it for a reason, and though Keiichi found it a bit weird, he wasn't going to complain about it. As Hild put it, being around gullible people that lacked... prudence wasn't without its own benefits.

Well after midnight, the visitors finally decided to call it quits and go to their homes, content with the amount of alcohol, food and snacks they managed to consume in that sort amount of time. Even the usual troublemakers of the Motor Club had enough common sense and decided to leave the young couple alone, instead of crashing in for the night. So after a lot of hugs, alcohol induced embarrassing comments and manly tears, Tamiya and Otaki signaled for the rest of the gang to leave. Finally Megumi and Chihiro left offering a few equally naughty, yet more tactful, comments to poor Keiichi who was trying his best to act all cool and collected but failed miserably at convincing anyone.

So at half past one o'clock in the morning the lights at Tariki Hongan Temple turned off the long awaited night.

XXX

The temple residents were all fast asleep, feeling the tiredness of the eventful day finally catching up to them. Everyone aside one certain Valkyrie that somehow managed to have enough stamina, despite the fact that she had just repelled a demonic takeover of Earth just hours ago. She, as well as Peorth were given permission to stay there for a few days, under the promise that they will compile and submit their report during their time on Earth. It was strictly stated that it wasn't exactly an official vacation, but due to their quick thinking and initiative to head to the mortal realm before the gate was sealed, Asgard would let them stay there with the newlyweds for a little while.

There was a certain feeling that kept the warrior goddess awake, something that was so instinctive for anyone that spent as much time as herself in the Fighting Wings. The presence of a demon. Initially believing that it was the catatonic Welsper, who finally returned home after he went missing when he realized that Belldandy had just gotten married, Lind tried to ignore it. However the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this energy source didn't belong to him, but someone with a lot more power. Someone she knew very well.

Getting off her futon that was in the middle of the guest room, right next to Peorth's, she tried to avoid both the rose goddess who was blissfully asleep, as well as the heaps of trash, that were discarded there after the end of the party just a few moment ago. Navigating herself out of that mess, she managed to get to the door and from there straight outside in the temple grounds. Letting neither the cool air nor the distant lights from Nekomi distract her from her target, she closed the distance in absolute silence.

There at the bottom of a nearby set of stairs right in front of the materialized gate of Niflheim, was the one thousandth version of Hild, scratching her head in wonder as well as frustration.

"Good grief! That Lind... She's really done it this time!" she muttered at herself. "The damage to the temple was one thing. This is on whole new level. And to think that we're supposed to be the demons here... So here goes nothing..." said the tiny Daimakaicho as she started the restoration procedure for the Gate.

Lind for her part wasn't sure what to do in a situation like this. It wasn't like her to feel apologetic to a demon, especially since unlike the temple, this wasn't an accident. Instead there were good reasons for her actions that created this mess. On the other hand, goddesses were normally responsible beings known for their benign nature. As such she was slightly inclined to help, considering that it was her fault in the first place. But helping demons repairing their Gate might be a bit too much. After all, how was she going to help, since it was her repair spell the one that did this?

Trying to get out of her dilemma, she decided to rely on the experiences and wisdom of others that were in her place before her. And following the example of the goddess of the past, she did just that. She left while pretending she never saw anything.

Tiptoeing her way back into the temple, she left Hild on her own. Hoping that the demoness was busy enough with the much needed repairs of the Gate, to try and pull something, she went straight back into her futon. Letting a sigh she covered herself and prepared for getting some rest finally.

XXX

Despite what some people think, nights are far from wasted productivity. Nocturnal beings are most active during that time. Even the ones that prefer the day may stay awake in order to do their job. Especially if it is an urgent one.

One such person moved under the cover of darkness towards the temple in absolute silence, wasting no time to sit and absorb their surroundings. Instead the dark figure moved towards the door of the main residence, pausing for a second to read the small piece of wood with Keiichi's name inscribed on it, right next to the entrance. The stealthy approach finally came to an end, as a slender finger pressed the doorbell.

Normally when one rings a doorbell at three o'clock in the morning, it is often due to some bad news. Illness, death, disasters of both of natural and man made origin were amongst the things that one was likely to expect when a messenger arrived at their doorstep at such an hour. Even in the occasion that the news were good, most would really rush to see what the commotion was about, no matter how inviting their beds might have been.

That was not the case this time around. Only one person actually woke up. Lind's eyes snapped open as she became aware of the noise that interrupted the silence of the night. Turning her head to the side, she found the goddess of the roses still asleep and even worse, in a position that Lind found difficult to look for long. If nothing she wanted to save herself from the embarrassment to witness that sight. While normally graceful under most circumstances, Peorth was apparently nothing like that during nighttime. Having her limbs sprawled all over the place and her covers almost completely removed, the Valkyrie could see more that she ever wanted, especially considering the stuff that the other first class goddess used as night clothes. If the ones she used during the day were any indication, then the ones she currently wore could count more as an accessory than actual clothes. To even think that just yesterday Lind thought that Peorth's casual attire was revealing...

Pinching her nose to clear her mind of such impure and useless thoughts, the Valkyrie turned to head towards for the second time in the same night. But that wasn't the only thing. The cause was very similar too. A demon. Even though she hadn't opened the door yet, she could pick out the characteristic energy signature that accompanied those fiends.

Resisting the urge to just kick the flimsy wooden obstacle that stood between herself and the unidentified intruder, she opted to just follow the standard procedure for answering the door. Just about the time the said intruder was about to ring the bell once more in hopes to finally get somebody's attention. The demon's hand froze as he took a good look at the person in front of him and once he realized that she was a Valkyrie, the rest of his body froze as well.

"S-s-signed m-mail d-de-delivery..." the demon stammered as he presented a small black package with a red ribbon wrapped around it. "I-It's for g-goddess first class second c-category Belldandy." he added looking carefully for any signs of aggression from the war goddess.

Lind wasn't buying it though. Demons were known liars and the whole thing looked like a setup. Still she wasn't going to just let him go without attempting to extract more information. "What's inside the box?" she asked him.

"I don't know and I'm not allowed to open it before I hand it over." The demon managed to regain enough of his composure as she seemed to be more interested in talk than fighting at the moment. "Let me check the shipment manifest for a moment." he said as he started to go through some of the documents that Niflheim's bureaucracy deemed necessary for such a delivery.

Lind just crossed her arms while she waited her answer. In her mind she already knew what it was though. Trouble. That's what it was to be expected from the denizens of the infernal realm in the first place. She was certain that whatever that 'gift' was, its intended purpose was to bring pain and misfortune for the young couple.

"There it is!" said the demon mailman snapping the Valkyrie out of her thoughts. "It's an angel egg addressed to the goddess Belldandy. The sender is the Daimakaicho sama." he added.

For her part Lind was more confused than she was before. Why would Hild send Belldandy an angel egg of all things and even more, how did she get one in the first place? A trap, That's what it had to be. But she decided to play along and extend her arms. "Fine, I'll take it in her place then. Do I sign anywhere?"

"Oh, that's OK. As long as she gets the package, all is good I guess... In that case please sign here." said the demon pointing to a paper. As soon as the Valkyrie carved her sigil in the receipt, the mailman gave her a small bow. "Thank you for doing business with us! Our service is the best in Niflheim. I'll take my leave then."

While Lind couldn't wait to be rid of the uninvited company, she also couldn't resist giving him a reply. "Does the best service in Niflheim means delivering mail in the middle of the night?"

"Umm, I'm terribly sorry about that. Actually it was reaby fo delivery hours ago, but I couldn't use Niflheim's door, because it was under repairs. According to rumors, some violent and most malicious individual, managed to vandalize the gate, despite its sophisticated auto repair mechanisms in place." said the demon as he looked at Lind who seemed a bit nervous for some reason.

"That's... terrible..." she managed, trying to hide her sweat drop that was without doubt forming as a result to the previous comments.

"Well, again thanks and goodnight." said the demon as he finally turned and started to walk away, probably back to that gate."

That left Lind staring awkwardly at the black box that she currently held. She was still highly suspicious of it, but the more that she tried to observe it, the more she actually sensed the presence of divine energy emanating out of it instead of demonic one. But this wasn't the time nor the place to properly study it, so she decided to postpone that for tomorrow. In the meanwhile it was important to make sure that nobody touched it, just in case it was a form of a Trojan horse.

Walking in the kitchen, she picked a notepad that was left there for writing down the shopping list and tearing an empty page out, she made a quick note warning everyone that the package should not be opened until further investigation. Going back into the room that she and Peorth shared, she put both the package and the note on a table and went back into her futon.

XXX

Cats were known to be independent and spontaneous creatures. It was in their nature to just do whatever they wanted and come and go as they pleased.

That was also the case for Welsper, the demon that was reincarnated as a cat, due to his attempt to mess with Yggdrasil. He would disappear even on regular days, but the previous one was even worse for him. The demon had a strong crush on Belldandy, his doublet, and even went as far as to put himself under a curse to stay as a kid forever in order to keep the memory of their meeting. Normally after the life sharing ceremony, that was the basis of the doublet system, both participants would lose their memories of that event in an effort to keep the identity of the double pairs a secret.

Welsper tried to avoid that, but it was eventually impossible. His child-like body could no longer hold the amount of energy of a grown demon and he reached his limits. In an act of utter stupidity, he tried to hack into Yggdrasil and cause time in the mortal realm to stop completely putting an end to his problem and making sure that he would stay with Belldandy forever. He put a lot of thought into his plan, but little into what he was supposed to do in case he failed. So now he was a cat. Punished by the demons for violating paragraph 4, first clause, of the demonic law, he was now stuck with the body of a class 4 life form. To make matters even worse he was a female cat.

Even in that condition he managed to curse himself in order to keep his consciousness from going into an eternal sleep, giving him the opportunity to maintain his memories and personality intact. He even found his way to the Tariki Hongan temple so that he could live with Belldandy, though at this time, as a pet cat.

But that wasn't the worst part of it all. He still had to come into terms with the reality that Belldandy has chosen to stay with a different guy. A short, boring motorhead that simply was lucky enough to make a stupid, selfish wish. Even if he had to admit that those two made a perfect team, he wasn't going to forgive the guy anytime soon. Especially not after he somehow managed to marry her yesterday.

Maybe a bit of revenge was necessary. Though at the same time, Welsper had little doubt that like most of his other plans, it was going to come back and bite him. Besides what he was supposed to do anyways? Scratch his BMW bike? Any of the goddesses could fix it. Well... maybe not that violent one, but the rest most certainly could.

'Let's see... What could ruin his day?' thought the crafty cat as he plotted. 'Hmm.. Belldandy gave him a watch for a birthday present. If he lost that, he would certainly look like an idiot to her. Yes, that might do the trick. All I have to do is hide it and let him panic a bit.'

Approaching quietly, which wasn't that difficult for a cat, he managed to open the door of Keiichi's room just enough to get himself inside.

Searching his things next to the two futons that were placed next to each other, he failed to detect the item he was looking for. Refusing to give up, he decided to keep looking until he spotted his target, but even after as much as ten minutes, the watch was nowhere to be seen. The frustrated demonic cat could only assume that the only logical explanation was that it was either outside the room, or he was still wearing it. Considering that the latter was more likely than the former, he cautiously approached the sleeping couple.

Thankfully the previous day left them drained enough that both decided to just go to sleep fully clothed, sparing Welsper from having to witness a sight that he was likely not mentally prepared to face yet. With the grace of a born predator, the cat moved next to Keiichi's wrist, that still had the item he was looking for.

Of course there was the very practical problem of removing the darn thing from Keiichi's wrist, a task that sounded easier in theory that it was in reality. Not without waking the guy. Even using Blue Lance to help was out of question, since the summoning of the devil familiar, would most likely wake the goddess next to him.

Deep in thought, the cat actually lost track of his tail, that somehow approached Keiichi's head, the tip of it getting dangerously close to his nose. By the time Welsper realized the mistake he made, it was far too late to do nothing.

Keiichi sneezed.

The frozen form of Welsper could only watch as the man tried to suppress a second sneeze and while successful, he looked like he needed to blow his nose. Supporting his weight on his elbow, he reached for the box of tissues with the other arm. However in his half asleep state, his muscle took over and guided him to the presumed location of the tissue box, only to fail him due to the recent change in his sleeping arrangements. So instead of the item he was reaching out o grab, his hand found his wife in a place that he has never touched while he was awake. A sight that most certainly emotionally scared the demon cat, who happened to be present to witness it, for the rest of eternity.

It lasted a brief moment though. As soon as both Keiichi and his wife, that just woke up, realized what was going on, there was a massive explosion right around them, sending the futon's covers, along with the cat that was on top of them, sky high through the roof. Flowers of all types, sizes and colors, expanded to occupy the space around them almost like a tidal wave, crushing the walls and spilling into all the other rooms.

As the house nearly collapsed from having to deal with the forces that Belldandy's little flower outburst caused, Welsper's ballistic trajectory came to an end in the worst possible place in the temple grounds. The small pond.

Being a cat and even having a weakness to water from before, didn't help at all. Welsper helplessly struggled to get himself out of the horrible experience he was currently in. That was until an arm reached out from within the water and pulled him out of the pond. The blonde woman that was in the middle of properly emerging from the mass of water, stared at the scene of total destruction, while the voices of several startled goddesses joined in, to complete the scene of absolute chaos that was unfolding before her eyes.

"This seems to be a lively place indeed." she said with a smile as she finally set her bare feet on the grass right in front the pond. Putting the unconscious cat down, she wondered if she she should wait a while before she made her presence known. After all the temple's occupants were most likely busy extracting themselves from this disaster scene.

The Morisato house was destroyed. Again.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series.

* * *

The morning sun just barely started to rise on the horizon, and yet the sound of jackhammers in the nearby construction site, made it obvious that some had to wake early to earn their living. Power tools, specialized equipment of all types and sizes, construction vehicles and finally workers trying to shout instructions to each other on top of all that, blended together in a cacophony that would drive most people mad. Or nearly deaf if the event they happened to forget their earplugs a few times too many.

Most people would probably be still enjoying their breakfasts, having a shower, watch the early news or even read about them in a newspaper. Perhaps they would be still in their beds as well.

This wasn't the case for Toraichi Tamiya and Hikozaemon Otaki, who were currently smacking the ground with a pair of pickaxes. Having no permanent job for themselves, they spent most of their time going from one part time job to the next in order to make their living. It was a pity as they were both excellent engineers, but unfortunately had little common sense and their salesmen skills were even worse. A simple case of a flat tire would have them make a full course customization of the vehicle. The unhappy customer who unwillingly had their ride pimped, would run off, leaving the motor-heads without getting paid and even worse, gaining no positive reputation. Despite the fact that they both managed to do all that work in absolutely record time.

So working early on a construction site was kind of their morning routine. Though the two buffed giants were uncharacteristically slow today. Getting not enough sleep on top of consuming a lot of alcohol was the primary reason for that unusual behavior. Still there was no helping it, since yesterday their underclassman Morisato Keiichi, had his wedding and as such, a party was mandatory. Due to that they were both really sleepy and were suffering from a mild hangover, but in their minds it was well worth it.

_Yesterday_

Tamiya was having a hard time to understand what was going on. While he was often the target of many jokes, that questioned his intelligence, or rather the lack of, he was not an idiot.

Still as he held the phone close to his ear, the information just didn't want to be registered by his brain.

"Say what?" he asked in his usual gruff voice, for the third time already.

"They got MARRIED! Gee, which part you don't get?" replied the person in the other end of the line.

Taking a glance at the calendar, just to make sure that this wasn't a particular day of April, Tamiya turned his attention back to the unreal conversation. "Morisato? The same as Morisato Keiichi? He couldn't even hold hands with Belldandy a few days ago. How did they managed to do that?"

"How am I supposed to know? Me and Megumi were heading at the temple for his birthday and found them in the middle of the road, with Bell-chan wearing a wedding dress." replied Chihiro.

"Look, even I was skeptical at first, but it seems that it's not a prank. So get Otaki and the rest and come to the temple, OK?"

"OK, I guess... See ya later." said the puzzled guy as he set the speaker down, ending what was probably the most bizarre phone call of his life.

"Hey Den-chan." said Otaki as he entered to see what was taking his buddy so long. "What's the matter? Is it another one of those phone advertizements, dude? You don't have to listen to all that you know..."

But Tamiya wasn't really listening. "Dai-chan, we're calling everyone. Get the list with all the Motor Club members."

"Eh!? Why?" asked a startled Otaki. Did that Aoshima try to pull any nasty shenanigans again? That guy was has left the Motor Club alone, after Keiichi stopped being around anymore. Without his usual target, Belldandy, that rich scumbag of a person, finally stopped bothering the club anymore. "Is it Aoshima?" he finally said voicing his previous thoughts.

"No, it's party time. Chihiro's orders." said Tamiya.

"Party? But Den-chan this month's budget isn't that great." replied the blonde guy, even though this month wasn't much different than the other ones.

"The party is at Morisato's so he's paying." said Tamiya.

"Oh! That's right, its his what was it again, birthday?"asked Otaki. "Almost forgot that."

"Yes, but it's a wedding party now."

"Wedding!? For real dude!?"

"Yep. So lets get calling." finally said Tamiya as he grabbed the phone's dial in order to make the next dozen or so calls.

News however spread really fast amongst students, especially when the word 'party' was included. Even those that had already graduated wanted to take a look. After all according to the news Morisato Keiichi, first class late bloomer, just got married. Somehow. Someway.

XXX

With every single member of the Motor Club present, the whole lot of them started for Keiichi's house. To be fair though, there weren't really that many of them. Barely more than a dozen or so, including many of the graduated members as well, it was probably one of the least popular clubs of NIT, holding the record of the one with the fewest active members in the campus. Mostly the reason behind that was the rather eccentric and unconventional choice of leadership it had for several years, Toraichi Tamiya and Hikozaemon Otaki. Not that several of the other members were that much better really, but those two were on a different level altogether.

Originally founded by Chihiro Fujimi with Tamiya and Otaki as the first members, the club was always very passionate about everything they did, pouring their hearts and souls as well as their meager budget into it. While the club worked very good under Chihiro, once the leadership passed to Tamiya and Otaki, the motorhead's overenthusiasm and habit of picking projects that were just too much for them to chew, depleted what little they had for a budget in no time at all. Then the usual crazy last minute and poorly thought schemes for raising funds to keep the club going, led to their rather notorious reputation amongst the NIT's students.

As such only a few were actually brave enough to ever join the Motor Club. Even after the leadership passed to Keiichi and eventually to Hasegawa Sora, the situation improved, but just barely. The presence of Belldandy that always seemed to follow Keiichi around did wonders, but even that wasn't enough. Only during one of Mara's zany plans to hypnotize everyone in order to sign for demonic contracts, she accidentally made everyone in the campus join the Motor Club. However those that didn't quit after wards, just never showed up, including Mara herself, who fell for her own trap.

Most of the members were of course aware of the relationship between Keiichi and Belldandy, though they were also puzzled with how little it resembled what most people had in mind when they used the word 'couple'. It was no wonder that the sudden news of the marriage made most think that Tamiya was just pranking them, or even trying to find excuse to gather them again for yet another crazy scheme of his.

XXX

At the temple, Belldandy was for the first time prohibited from making any preparations for the arrival of their guests. The other goddesses were adamant that for once Belldandy should enjoy the event instead wasting most of time in the kitchen, no matter how the goddess of the present enjoyed doing that. This was her night after all.

The remaining four goddesses would handle the party the party itself. Splitting the tasks between themselves was deemed necessary and thus Lind was in charge of the booze, Skuld cleaning the place before and after the event with the help of her robots, Urd acting as a waitress and finally Peorth was the cook by default. Mostly because she didn't really trust that the others would be capable at making something that would be rated as safe for consumption by mortals.

"Why is she in charge of the drinks again?" asked a fuming Urd as she pointed in the direction of the Valkyrie. "She probably knows nothing about sake anyways."

"Because leaving the wolf to watch over the sheep is foolish at best." replied Lind in her usual manner. "Additionally if anyone gets too rowdy, I can deal with them in a more efficient manner than the rest of you."

"See? Bad idea." insisted the half goddess of the past, earning a rather pointed glare from Lind.

"Now, now. Behave yourselves." tried Peorth, who suddenly felt that she was the only sane person in the room. "Imagine Belldandy's disappointment if we blow this up, so tough it up big babies."

Urd looked as if she was about to give Peorth either one of her patented bolts or a weird medicine from her collection, but decided to let it slide this time. There was just no time for that foolishness at the moment, not with the guests arriving at any moment. Still, the offended goddess had a look on her face that would have even made her mother proud, which naturally caused the others to get their distance from the highly volatile Norn of the past.

After a few moments of silence, it was the youngest that broke the silence. "What about my part?"

"You are in charge of cleaning, remember?" said Urd after she completely regained her composure.

"That sucks!" protested the youngest of the Norns, feeling that she was cheated and stuck with the worst job.

"If you use a vacuum cleaner, then it really does." joked her eldest sister, as she stuck her tongue out in a very unladylike manner.

Before the situation completely deteriorated, Peorth decided to change the subject. "A party needs some music. Do we have a sound system that is half decent? The one that Keiichi possesses, looks like it may not be up for the task."

"Well, I was prepared for such an occasion!' announced Skuld in her usual manned, whenever her mechanical skills were called into action. Pressing a button in one of her apparently numerous wireless controllers, she summoned yet one more of her crazy contraptions. One that by the sound of it, was moving on treads.

"Tada!" she happily declared as she opened the door to give the other three goddesses a look of the monstrosity that awaited on the other side of the door. "This is the self propelled, gas turbine powered, turret mounted, stereo speaker, riot control sound system, Mr Decibel Mk III."

The others just stared at what appeared to be a mini tank that carried a pair of extra large speakers on top of it. Taking the silence as her cue to go on, the young goddess did exactly that. "This is a highly efficient and compact sound system, capable or reaching a volume level that exceeds the human threshold of pain, its primary purpose is to settle down angry crowds, without employing lethal force. And the special feature is the microphone input, allowing it to be used as a karaoke machine as well. Ah... Such a cool design..."

"You want to use that t-thing in your sister's wedding party?" asked a dumbfounded Urd as she pointed at the mini tank.

"For once I agree. This is most unfit for such a joyous occasion." added Peorth, equally appalled at the idea of using that monstrosity.

"I want one." was all that the Valkyrie said in regards to this development. Even if she agreed with the two other goddesses, Lind couldn't help herself and decided to voice her real thoughts about Skuld's machine, causing some reactions from the others in the process. Two facepalms and one dreamy look of pride. Apparently she was an easy one to flatter.

"You can crank the volume down, you know! Besides it can stop Mara too!" protested Skuld once she snapped out of it, trying to defend her invention from those that criticized it.

"Too bad it won't stop Tamiya and Otaki. Do you even realize what's going to happen if those two get their hands on your toy?" challenged Urd. "As for Mara, she just left a few minutes ago. All this happy atmosphere was giving her a migraine. I had to give her some of Keiichi's electric bills to make her feel better. Who, by the way, seem to be getting from bad to worse these days. It looks like a certain someone needs to moderate their power consumption."

"It's not a toy! But, uh... you may have a point there..." finally admitted the young goddess. "And I can't help using a bit more energy than the rest of you. I even offered an alternative, only to reject it."

"Any sane person would have rejected that. It was a freaking reactor!" objected Urd.

"It was a Stirling radioisotope generator, that would have used a Stirling power conversion technology, to turn radioactive-decay heat into electricity. Not a reactor you dummy! It is much safer." replied Skuld.

"Are you kidding me? You put a self destruct mechanism in everything you build. Do you even know what's gonna happen if you blow that thing up, while Keiichi's around? Or any other mortal for that matter. So who's the real dummy here?" countered Urd.

"Girls! Please. We don't have the time for that." interjected Peorth before they got too much into their argument.

"I would agree with Peorth." said Lind "We are just wasting time without gaining anything. So let's get back to our original plan and get over with it."

"Fine..." the two sisters said at the same time, as they both let out a sigh.

XXX

The first to arrive at the temple were Chihiro and Megumi, with the couple right behind them. After a small detour to retrieve Keiichi's BMW, the three bikes rushed to the temple. Providing that all of them were competent racers, it was a huge shock for the two mortal women to realize that they weren't the first ones to arrive there. Belldandy's sisters and a few others had somehow managed, yet again, to leave them behind, a fact that bugged Chihiro, in particular, to no end. The founder of the Motor Club was a racer at heart, and therefore didn't like the idea of loosing to anyone. The fact that those girls managed to pull such a feat without having any means of transportation that she was aware of, made it even more frustrating and mysterious. One of these days, she was going to find out their big secret. One of these days.

But Chihiro wasn't the only one that was currently unhappy. Belldandy was also a bit saddened as the others prohibited her from entering the kitchen. Left with no other options, she joined her husband and the other two women on the low table, drinking some tea, that Urd had apparently prepared. It was surprisingly good, although it shouldn't be a surprise for someone that spent her free time brewing potions. The actual surprise was than for once, she didn't put any of her medicine in the tea and cause trouble, as most that knew the Norn of the past would have expected.

And speaking of trouble, their house was thankfully back in the way it used to be, not that awkward shape that Hagall turned it into. It was all thanks to Hild, who volunteered to change it back. And by the looks of it, the demoness kept her promise. What did puzzle the goddess though, was how someone like Hagall ever managed to pull such a powerful distortion spell. According to what she heard during the blonde's impromptu interrogation, after Hild got her position back, it appeared that Niflheim's second in command had a few problems with using her powers in the traditional way, like many other demons did. So why couldn't even a first class goddess like herself fix the damage that Hagall caused? Just how much malice did she manage to put behind that spell in order to produce such nightmarish result.

Belldandy's train of though was rudely interrupted by a loud sneeze, that came from no other than Lind, who at the time, was carrying some bottles from the kitchen to the living room. The Valkyrie just scratched her nose with a gloved hand and went back to her designated task.

The sound however, did attract the attention of the others that were also sitting around the table. The two women, gave the white clad combat expert a critical look as they drank their tea in silence.

"You know Kei-chan, now that you got married, isn't it about time to stop doing that?" started his sister.

"Doing what, Megumi?" asked Keiichi back, not fully understanding what the younger Morisato was talking about.

"Getting more girls to live with you. I mean Urd and Skuld are Bell-chan's sisters, and having that friend of theirs, Peorth, was one thing. But adding more, especially after your marriage, is another." said Megumi as she paused to take a long sip from her tea.

"You need to be a bit more considerate of Belldandy's feelings Keiichi-kun." added Chihiro. "Your house is probably pretty crowded as it is anyways."

"Hold on a second everyone!" protested Keiichi "She's just a guest."

But none of the other two women looked particularly convinced.

"That's what you always say Keii-chan." stated Megumi.

"But this time, it's your wife's happiness at stake." finished Chihiro.

"I don't get it. How is Belldandy's happiness in danger? They are all friends, so why would that be a problem?" asked a puzzled Keiichi.

"Because they're going to be in the way." said Chihiro.

"In the way? What way?" asked Keiichi, still unable to get what those two were even talking about..

"Whenever you and Bell-chan want to do naughty stuff." said Megumi as gave him, one of her almost trademark cat like expressions.

For his part Keiichi almost choked on his tea, struggling to get his color back from deep red into something more usual for his complexion and failing miserably at it. Eventually he tried to throw the two women off him. "They were only invited for the wedding!"

To say that it was a poor choice of words was an understatement. His intent was to merely change the subject, but ended up touching an even worse one.

"You said that for some obscure reason, that I can't figure out, you had to marry in secret. And yet you invited them?" asked Chihiro, giving the young mechanic a pointed look.

"Well said. You didn't even invite me, Keii-chan." said Megumi as she glared her brother.

There was little doubt in the young mechanic's mind. Keiichi had just dug his own grave. There was just no way to get himself out of this one. Not without having to say too much, or managing to create an elaborate lie. As he was considering what to do, in order to appease them, the loud voices coming from outside meant only one thing. For the first time in his short life, Tamiya and Otaki came to his rescue, even if it was just by coincidence.

"I-I need to g-go and greet them." He stammered as he rushed to the door and away from his difficult situation.

"He run away..." muttered Chihiro.

"I guess some things never change." said Megumi with a sigh.

"More tea?" asked Belldandy, breaking the silence she maintained during that short exchange. Normally she would immediately defend Keiichi in any kind of situation, but on this occasion, she felt that they meant no real harm. They were just concerned and wanted to help. As ineffective as their help was.

"Yes please." both women simply said.

XXX

"MORISATO!" shouted Tamiya with all his usual gusto.

"The VIPs are all here!" added Otaki in a loud but not nearly as deafening voice.

The rest of the Motor club were just chatting to each other. While they had their own conversations, one topic nearly dominated most of them. The marriage between the former head of the Motor Club, once those two guys stepped down, and his ever present girlfriend who attended every meeting and activity they had. Despite the fact that the goddess never actually joined the Club, she was almost like an unofficial member and occasionally even confused for an actual one, by the other students of NIT.

While the actual news were no big surprise to anyone, most were rather intrigued by the secrecy behind the event. So aside of the party itself, that was a good enough reason in their books, they were also interested to get all the juicy details out of Keiichi.

For his part Morisato was running towards the door as if the hounds of Hell were after him. Throwing the door wide open, he took a moment to catch his breath before he addressed his guests.

"Hey take it easy Morisato, don't die on us..." said tamiya, only slightly concerned. Just slightly.

"Yea dude, what's up?" said Otaki, who unlike his best friend, didn't try to look tough all the time.

"Ugh." started Keiichi, "Chihiro and Megumi."

Those were the only things that the newlywed mechanic needed to say in order to explain everything. Even though, this time around, it may have been his fault. Still, the explanation was good enough for the ones that were in front of him.

"Well, I guess congratulations are in order." said Tmiya in his usually gruff voice.

"Yes, good job dude. You finally did it." said Otaki, proud that his former subordinate in the Motor Club grew enough courage to propose his girlfriend.

"Thanks guys..." was all that Keiichi managed to say, before the two giants crushed him in a hug. A manly hug of course, and one that would even make a bear proud. Much to the horror of Keiichi's poor bones.

"Cut it out! He's turning a bit blue." said the current head of Motor Club, Hasegawa Sora, as she adjusted her glasses. The tiny girl couldn't believe how childish those two were at times. And to imagine that she was the one mistaken for a child, due to her tiny frame.

"Ah...Sorry." was the only thing that Tamiya said, as he and Otaki let the poor guy to recover.

"Huff... Well let's start the party, OK?" said Keiichi. Anything to keep them busy.

"Uh, excuse me." said a voice that belonged to one of the Motor Club's members. "But are the rumors true? Is Belldandy-san pregnant?"

"What!? P-pregnant? Who would think that?"

"Everyone here Morisato-sempai." said Hasegawa this time, "With you two marrying so suddenly and without saying anything to anyone, its hard to ignore the possibility."

Well not really everyone, to be exact. Two certain someones, certainly didn't. Until now that is.

"MO-RI-SA-TO~KUN!" said Tamiya as he towered over the not particularly tall mechanic.

"You disgraced the Motor Club, dude! Shameful!" went Otaki on.

"You need to be taught a lesson, you little punk." said Tamiya as he raised his fist in a threatening manner.

"You said it Den-chan." agreed Otaki.

"Wait a moment guys!" protested Keiichi, raising his hands in front of him. "Do I look like the type of person to do that?"

"Hey, he's got a point there Den-chan." admitted Otaki as he though about it.

For his part, Tamiya paused and scratched his unshaven face, pondering that. "Yea, he ain't got the guts." he finally said.

Most of the Motor Club members had to agree with that logic, even if it originated from the ones that had little to do with logic in general.

"Then it couldn't be that you two had to marry, because her family wanted to engage her to some other guy." suggested the current head of the Motor Club.

"That happens in soap operas Hasegawa..." said Keiichi in a dismissive and even slightly sarcastic tone.

No, real life throws you in the middle of demonic rebellions, and as soon you think that you got away without a scratch, it's time to pass some ridiculous test, organized by the gods. That kind of thing.

"Then what's the reason?" said Tamiya, who finally went straigh to the point for once.

'Here we go again' thought Keiichi as he had to recall the same lie he had to use earlier this evening. "Well, you see... It's just that, in Belldandy's home country, it's a tradition for couples to marry in secret."

Internally he winced. Now that he thought about it, nobody would believe such a terrible lie. Maybe he should have asked Urd. She wasn't totally convincing either, but as a liar, she had a lot more experience under her belt.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" asked Tamiya.

"Yea dude, that would have saved you a lot of time." agreed Otaki

Keiichi's jaw would have hit the floor, if it wasn't firmly attached to the rest of his head. 'They bought it? No way!'

To be fair the rest seemed a bit skeptical, especially Hasegawa, but decided to remain silent. All that drama lead to nowhere.

"Then let's party." Keiichi finally said with a sigh.

It didn't take too much more beyond that, for the Motor Club to just rush into the house, after their curiosity was finally sated. It was time for fun.

For his part, Keiichi just wanted for this day to finally end. It may have ended in a joyous event for him and Belldandy, but in the process, he was also physically and emotionally drained. Perhaps tomorrow would be just an ordinary day.

Staring at the top of the house's roof, before he stepped into the house, he noticed a tiny, childish figure waving at him as soon as she realized that he spotted her. He reluctantly returned the gesture and eventually went into the house to join the rest. Was there anything ordinary left in his life anymore?

XXX

The party itself was pretty standard for Motor Club. Singing karaoke, drinking a lot of booze and generally creating chaos. At least, much to Keiichi's relief, they have left all that silly and embarrassing stuff aside and were currently busy doing the one thing they knew best. Making a lot of noise, something that Keiichi could live with.

Belldandy for her part spent most of her time with the girls of the entire group, who weren't that many in reality. As a matter of fact, Hasegawa was the only active member of the Motor Club, as Chihiro was a former one, while Megumi never really joined. Even though Keiichi asked his sister a few times, she was never interested to join, and preferred the softball club over the usual craziness that was accompanying the NIT's Motor Club. The few women around Belldandy spent most of the night talking about the couple's plans for the future and even other simple everyday matters. To be honest though, neither of them had really any idea what they were talking about, as Belldandy had little experience with what a mortal couple's married life should be, while the actual mortals of the group were all single. Either way, it was nice for everyone to gather like that and spend time talking , even if it wasn't about anything in particular. Especially for the goddess, who knew that those moments were meant to be cherished, since they wouldn't last forever.

Keiichi on the other hand spent most of his time with the guys, not that he wag given a choice in that matter, as Tamiya and Otaki dragged him in their karaoke contest. Despite the whole chaos around him, there was a nostalgic feeling about this whole situation. The Motor Club was always partying hard like that, whenever they had the slightest excuse to do so. Even to the point, that the club's budget was in the red from all that and they had to desperately save it, which included all sorts of crazy schemes. Keiichi would have found that particular bit funny, if it wasn't for the fact that most of those times it involved him winning some race in order to do that. Normally Keiichi wouldn't mind it, since he loved racing and was rather competitive, despite his mild manners. However those events also seemed to attract people like Aoshima, who seemed to be under the impression that Belldandy would dump him if he lost one of those races. To say that the rich boy had little to no understanding of Belldandy's character was an understatement. At least he was thankful that he didn't had to deal with that particular person tonight. Instead he decided to take a look on the kitchen were most of the goddesses were.

XXX

For their part, the majority of the goddesses were not actively participating in the event, though each had her own reason.

Peorth was the cook, preparing some of the snacks for the event, but also avoiding Tamiya, who at one point had fallen in love with her. Even worse, due to some misunderstanding on her part, she though that the gruff giant was actually interested in Keiichi and in order to save the latter, she decided to go on a date with the former. It didn't end up very well for either of those guys. Tamiya was heartbroken and Keiichi was on the tall guy's black list for a while, since he believed that he was rejected because the foreign woman had fallen for Keiichi, just like Belldandy did. Even to this date, Peorth wasn't happy with that whole debacle, but decided to leave it as it was, since Tamiya had apparently forgotten about it, or at least never brought it up again in the months that followed.

Lind on the other hand was mostly sitting on the far side of the room and spent most of her time observing the others. Her task was to keep an eye on the distributions of alcoholic beverages during the party. Mostly because they didn't want to let those guys waste the entire supply in a single night and vaporize Keiichi's hard earned money in an effort to restock it. Since Urd relied on alcohol as an alternative power source, keeping enough bottles around was a great idea in cases of emergencies. It also kept the eldest of the three sisters from being in a foul mood as well. But it also costs a lot, especially for a poor person like Keiichi, who constantly has to struggle with the budget every month, although ever since he retired from being the head of the Motor Club, his finances have improved.

Skuld on the other hand was currently leisurely eating some of the ice cream she's been promised earlier for her contribution during the wedding ceremony. The youngest of the goddesses wasn't particularly interested for the event. Not because her Mr Decibel Mk III was unanimously rejected, but because she had a lot going on in her own mind at the moment. If she had to be completely honest with herself, she knew it was merely a matter of time before this happened. What would happen from this point on, was the real question. Skuld dreaded that once the couple would go into the 'honey' and 'darling' routine, she would be all but invisible to them. If there was one thing that the little goddess hated more that anything else was the feeling of being ignored. Belldandy was one of the two people that always remained around Skuld, since both her parents were very busy running Asgard. As a result it was always her sisters that kept her company and while she knew that they wouldn't dote her forever, she had hoped that it wasn't gonna happen before she was fully an adult. Not anymore. Well, at the very least there was Urd. Although at the moment the eldest Norn had business of her own that required her attention.

XXX

Urd hovered herself on top of the roof, away from the prying eyes of the mortals that were having a blast below. Moments ago, she was serving them snacks and a few drinks, but right now she had to deal with the most difficult guest of the night.

"Hi Urd-chan." beamed the tiny avatar of her mother, waiving at her in a friendly manner, as she gave her daughter a bright smile.

"Hi." was the simple reply, as the goddess prepared to deal with whatever trouble the demon in front of her might be preparing.

"You know that's not nice Urd-chan. I've been waiting up here all night and nobody offered me anything." pouted the chibi-hild as if she was really hurt by that fact. "I'm a guest as well."

Urd just rolled her eyes. Hild liked being overdramatic like that all the time, so this wasn't anything new. "I don't remember inviting you."

"How cold! I even found your witnessed for Bell-chan's ceremony and this is what I get in return?" said Hild. "You even gave Ma-chan something, before she left. So why not me?"

"Fine, fine. What is it that you want?" said Urd as she wondered if her mother was really honest for once, or she was up to no good as usual.

"Some of the tea you made would be just enough." said Hild. "Oh and some rice crackers wouldn't hurt either. Maybe a bit of..."

"Tea and crackers that is." said Urd interrupting her mother, before the demoness went on. With a casual snap of her fingers, the requested items were teleported from the kitchen below and right into her waiting hands. "Here."

"Eh? Wait a second, this isn't how you are supposed to treat a guest. It's downright impolite." complained the tiny version of her mother. "Don't tell me that the daughter of the Daimakaicho was so terribly rude to the other guests as well."

"Of course not!" objected Urd. "Everyone was really happy with my service."

"Are you sure it was your service, or the copious amount of skin that your clothes currently expose?" asked Hild, giving her daughter a wink.

"You're one talk." said Urd in a rather sarcastic tone. "Besides, if you have it, flaunt it."

"I'm happy that you finally came to appreciate my contributions, Urd-chan." said Hild with a bit of a naughty look in her face.

"Bite me." was the goddess's only answer, finally having enough and decided to turn away and start to walk towards the edge of the roof.

"Oh Urd-chan..." said Hild, pausing long enough for the goddess to turn and face her, "be careful what you wish for..." added the demoness, as she pointed at her canine teeth, that for some reason looked much bigger than the used to, moments before.

Giving Hild a bugeyed look, the goddess finally started to laugh, considering the rather comical look on the tiny Daimakaicho's face.

The moment was ruined though as a screaming guest opened the door and run off into the night, almost as if he had seen a ghost. Turning her gaze from the mortal's departing form, back into her mother, the goddess gave her a bit of a skeptical if not suspicious look.

"Don't look at me. I didn't do that." merely said the demoness.

"Fine, I'll find out myself." said Urd as she turned to leave. "Some other time."

"Yes." quietly replied her mother, as she heard another startled cry from below.

XXX

"OK, What's going on here?" asked the goddess of the past, as she entered the kitchen.

"I just came here to see how you were all doing, and I heard people running." said Keiichi.

Sharing a look amongst themselves, the goddesses, plus the mortal, decided to figure out what that fuss was all about. Opening the kitchen's door the came face to face with a slightly blue Hasegawa, who was about to leave, though not as hastily as some of the guys.

"Hasegawa..." started Keiichi. "what's wrong?"

"It's Tamiya." replied the head of the Motor Club. "He's probably drunk enough, that he wanted to strip."

"Eh!?" said a startled Keiichi "Don't tell me that he's serious."

"I have no idea. I'm not curious enough to stick around." she said back. "Most of the others left as well. Anyways, I'm going too Morisato-sempai. I really wish you the best for you and Belldandy-sempai. Good night."

"Thank you Hasegawa, and goodnight to you as well." replied Keiichi with a warm smile.

Noticing a shadow to his right, the mechanic turned to see both Tamiya, who was thankfully dressed, an Otaki standing next to him.

"Well, our plan worked out perfectly Den-chan."

"Right Dai-chan."

"Um... what are you guys talking about?" asked Keiichi, almost fearing to hear the answer.

"Send everyone home early." said Tamiya with a proud smile.

"Yes, you don't need all of us, getting in your way tonight, dude." added Otaki.

"Oh, thanks I guess." said Keiichi, who was feeling rather tired after that long day.

"Morisato!" shouted Tamiya. "Make us proud!"

"Yea, do your best pal." added Otaki, giving Keiichi a thumbs up.

"Huh?" was all that Keiichi had for an answer. It was only after those two passed the wooden entrance to the temple, that he actually realized what they were talking about.

XXX

Only Chihiro and Megumi were left, and those two were also on their way to their bikes, with Keiichi and the rest following them.

"Well, it was fun Keii-chan. Try to get at least _some_ sleep tonight." said Megumi in her usual teasing way.

"Megumi!" was all that Keiichi could say, thankful that the night outside concealed his blush.

"I also think it was fun, Keiichi-kun." said Chihiro. "You can miss the next few days of work. Just make sure you spent it with Bell-chan, OK?"

"What do you mean? Who else I should spent it with, anyways?" asked a puzzled Keiichi.

"I don't know..." stared Chihiro as she gave him a suspicious look. "Knowing you, I'd say messing around with some bike. Which is fine, but keep in mind Bell-chan's needs."

"Don't worry about that." said Keiichi with a smile "I won't forget about her."

"Good, good." replied Chihiro. "Besides, if you want to work on a bike, you know where I am."

Keiichi only sweatdropped, while his wife stepped in to talk with them.

"Thank you both for coming here tonight." she told the two women with a smile. "Fell free to visit us again tomorrow as well."

"Umm..." stared Chihiro "shouldn't you two spend some time together?"

"Yes, we are going to be, you know in the way." agreed Megumi.

"Not at all!" said Belldandy with her usual enthusiasm. "The more, the merrier."

The two bikers simply shook their heads as the goddess apparently missed the point completely. Still they just felt that this was just the way she was and no matter what they said, she wasn't likely to change in any way. Moments later both of them departed from the temple, leaving Keiichi and the group of the goddesses alone.

"So..." started the youngest of the goddesses. "Who's gonna help me with the cleaning?"

Turning around, there was only the Valkyrie standing next to her. The others were nowhere to be seen.

"No way... Onesama too?" wondered the little goddess.

"She was dragged into the house, by Urd and Peorth. Keiichi-kun was forcefully taken inside too." said Lind in her usual calm voice. "But do not worry. I will help you instead."

"You will?" asked Skuld.

"Yes, I just love cleaning." said the Valkyrie.

Skuld didn't know what to say. On one hand she was thankful for the help. On the other hand, the gleam on the Valkyrie's eyes troubled her.

_Present day_

Taking a break from their hard work, Tamiya and Otaki paused to take a breath and let their muscles relax a bit.

Just as they did so, Otaki caught Tamiya with a deeply troubled look on his face.

"Everything's alright Den-chan? You look a bit off, is it the hangover?" asked Otaki.

"Nah, not that." replied Tamiya. "I was thinking about Morisato."

"He's gonna be fine dude, the boy's tougher than nails. You know that." said Otaki.

"I know that." replied the gruff man as he scratched his chin "I'm talking about his dream."

"I'm not sure if I follow you Den-chan." was the blonde's reply.

"That Morisato ended up marrying his girlfriend. It took him forever, but he did it in the end." said Tamiya "So maybe we should make our own dream come true as well."

"You sure? We are broke most of the time dude." protested Otaki, trying to bring some logic to the argument. "How in the world are we going to pull that off?"

"How in the world did Morisato got a babe for a wife?" countered Tamiya. "If he can do it, then so can we."

"Then..." started Otaki.

"_Tamiya and Otaki's manly customs garage_ is now official!" finished Tamiya.

"Let's celebrate it later with some karaoke dude." said Otaki.

"Yes, let's celebrate to a great start!" shouted Tamiya.

"Are you guys quite done already?" said a third voice.

Turning their heads, the noticed the face of the foreman shooting daggers at them.

"We have concrete to pour, so enough messing around and back to your jobs!"

The two giants went back to what they were doing with a renewed sense of purpose. They now needed the funds to realize their own dream, so they had to work hard until then.

The foreman shook his head as he noticed the silly grins on their faces. 'Crazy kids... It's hard to find good help these days.'

* * *

AN: So here is chapter 2 of the story. I have originally intended to break the events of the wedding party into two chapters, but instead I made all of it into a single one. I personally find it better this way, though it took some modifications here and there.

With that out of the way, the next chapter will move the story forward, instead of being a large flash back. I hope that the event was done in a manner that fits the characters of the series. See you on the next chapter, and thank you everyone for your support.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

The sound of the alarm clock interrupted the peaceful atmosphere in the girl's apartment. She struggled to hit the offending object in order to stop it, but as always, it was just impossible, since it was carefully placed out of her reach in order to force herself out of her futon. There was one occasion where she went back to sleep by accident and missed an important class because of it. Learning from past mistakes, Megumi Morisato, forced herself into a sitting position and tried to remember why her ears were ringing. It wasn't that horrible alarm clock the was responsible for that though. Nor was the noise from the previous night's party.

As the memories from yesterday settled in, she found herself more and more confused. It was her brother's birthday, and for that reason, she and Chihiro prepared a surprise party at Whirlwind, Chihiro's shop. She even remembered Belldandy giving Keiichi a really expensive watch as a present. But what really happened beyond that was not exactly as easy to accurately recall. She seemed to have fallen asleep for some reason, just like Chihiro, and by the time they had woken up, it looked as if the party at Whirlwind was already over. Puzzled by that fact, she and the shop's owner, decided to visit the temple to see whether or not Keiichi had gone home, since they couldn't find neither him, nor Belldandy. Much to their surprise they encountered them both dressed as if they had already gotten married. The rest was history, but the whole chain of events felt broken in some way, as if she was missing an important link that would make everything click together. What happened during those few hours that she was asleep anyways?

Stepping into the shower, she found that there were several times where she had certain questions about her brother's girlfriend, or rather his wife as of yesterday. It was always a wonder how her romantically challenged big brother, who thought that a museum was a great place to take your date, managed to get himself together with NIT's most sought after student. One that had managed to take the title of the Campus's Queen from Sayoko and very popular in a short period of time, much to the rich girl's horror and frustration. Where did Belldandy come from and what made her fall for someone like her brother was something that she never figures out.

It's not that Megumi didn't like her brother. Far from it. He was a genuinely nice person, always working hard and trying his best to never let others down. Still in a wold that paid too much attention to the superficial appearance, his average looks and rather unimpressive height, made him a person that one could easily miss in a crowd. Money was also not a money either, as they weren't rich and Keiichi in particular was broke most of the time. Skepticism aside, he did managed to pull something impossible, marrying the most beautiful woman in Nekomi.

As speaking of beauty, she had to think her situation too. Once she finished with her shower, she moved close to her bathroom's mirror, and inspected her reflection as she dried herself with a towel. She was rather attractive and while she was no Urd, at the same time she was no Hasegawa either. The thing was that so far she was dumped three times and at some point or another she had to figure out what was wrong with her. Popularity was not something that she lacked either, as she was the Queen of the Nekomi Ridge, a title she got once she had beaten the previous one in a race, even if she never really wanted it. In fact she was on the top list with the three most recognizable female names in the Campus, after ones like Belldandy and Sayoko.

It was really ironic how the less popular of the two siblings found the perfect other half, while the more popular one, was still single. Maybe she had collected enough bad karma, after years of teasing her poor brother, no matter that it mostly meant as a joke. Or maybe it was the general weirdness that surrounded her family.

That stopped her train of though rather abruptly. Her family. Since yesterday's developments, nobody called them to inform them. She certainly didn't and she never saw Keiichi do that either.

Rushing straight to her bedroom in order to dress herself, tripping and nearly falling in the process, she had to rush into the temple and tell her brother, who was probably blissfully unaware of the predicament he was currently in. Well calling him on the phone was another option, but Megumi wasn't willing to give him the opportunity to run away, in the event he panicked. This was a matter that they needed to deal as soon as possible, instead of prolonging it any farther.

Moments later, she jumped on her KSR and started for her brother's house.

XXX

Rebuilt yet one more time in less than a day, the Morisato residence was back to its original state, saved by Peorth's repair magic.

Yet nothing saved the mortal man from the looks that were directed at him from the other goddesses. While most were curious to learn why the house had suddenly exploded in a tidal wave of flowers, two certain goddesses had a bit of an idea. It was that very idea that gave them this knowledgeable and slightly naughty look on their faces, that made Keiichi a bit more than nervous. A bit more than usual, that is.

While Peorth wanted to wait for the right moment to bring the subject, Urd decided to go straight for the kill. Hovering herself next to Keiichi, she gazed the mechanic thought half closed eyelids. "So, did anything happen? Hmm, little brother?"

Wincing at the suggestive tone of her voice, Keiichi tried to increase his distance from the half goddess. "Why would anything happen? And on top of that, who are you calling little brother?" he said in an attempt to dismiss the implied accusations.

"You tell me, lover boy." she said, as she closed the distance and put an arm around Keiichi in a friendly manner. Though upon closer inspection, one could call it a headlock as well. "As for the brother part, that's what you are to me now, buddy. You married by sister, remember?"

That was one thing that Keiichi hadn't enough time to consider, yesterday. He had two more sisters as it seemed. One that was a bombshell and the other that was a bomb dispenser. The fact that the former one was equally if not more mischievous than his own sister, Megumi, but infinitely more powerful scared him. She was forward enough when they weren't related, it was just going to be much harder from now on.

Still Keiichi found his distraction. "Well, you are my older sister in law I suppose. But what about Skuld? Is she older or younger than me?"

Turning to look at the youngest goddess in the group, who was currently imitating an ostrich, though she buried her face in a manga, instead of the ground, in order to avoid the discussion. Part of her wanted to just ran away, though another part wanted to figure out the details behind the previous night's incident. After all, depending on the gravity of the mortal's sinful advance, she would have to pick an appropriate punishment. Was it going to be a simple Neo Skuld Bomb, or the apocalyptic Anti-proton Bomb? Either way, her new brother was going to get it this time.

"She's your older sister too." said Urd after thinking about it for a few seconds. "Hey, you're finally not the youngest member in the family, squirt! Aren't you happy?"

"Yea, yea, lucky me. Whatever..." was all that Skuld had to add, before she returned back to her Dobon manga.

Before the troublemaker goddess had any chance to go any further with her current interrogation of her brother in law, the living room's door opened, revealing Belldandy in her casual attire and apron. "Breakfast is almost ready everyone." she said, pausing for a second to process the scene in front of her. "Is there something wrong neesan?"

For her part, Urd relaxed her grip on Keiichi a little bit, just in case her younger sister took offense, or just became too suspicious of her real intentions. Trying her best innocent expression on her face, she merely laughed. "No, no. I was just welcoming Keiichi in our family, that's all."

"You didn't welcome me like that, I hope." was the dry and yet curious remark from the youngest of the three sisters.

"No, it was more like the 'oh look, a baby. Let's see if she's ticklish' sort of thing." said Urd as she took a trip to the memory lane. "You were so cute back then Skuld."

"Really?" That wasn't exactly what she had expected from Urd at all. "You mean it? Even that last part?"

"Of course I mean it. You were really cute back then" said Urd with a nod. "You still look cute today. Although I wish I could say the same about your current personality as well." she added with a fake pout.

Skuld should have known better than falling for her eldest sister's antics. "Oh really? You asked for it. Neo Skuld bomb away...?" Reaching to grab one of her bombs from under her blouse, she paused as she found none of her usual explosives.

"Didn't restock them yet, right Skuld?" asked Urd as she stood up and crossed her arms.

"Not yet. But I have other options too. Banpei!" shouted the younger goddess, waiting for her trusty robot to enter the living room. "Missile attack!"

The robot's metallic hat popped, exposing the fully extended head mounted mini missile battery. Taking a moment to aim, it fired all four of them in rapid succession. However instead of slamming straight into the bronze skinned goddess, the rockets veered straight to the left and out of the room, as they pierced through the paper door panels.

"Oh no, I forgot them in the demon seeking mode." said Skuld as she felt her disappointment build up, now that her last offensive option was out.

'So they didn't register me as one...' thought Urd, before she decided that it was about time to cut some slack from her sister and leave her alone for now. "OK, enough fooling around, let's go and get some breakfast."

While the others may have wanted to point out that she was the one that was fooling around, they simply nodded, in hopes that peace would return to the Morisato household once more. They did however seem to miss the little smile on Urd's face, as she stared at her youngest sister.

XXX

In the meanwhile another type of drama was unfolding outside the walls of Keiichi's home.

The blonde goddess was trying to dry the waterlogged kitten, in hopes that she would revive her from the catatonic state she was currently in. Even that brief contact with the liquid that Wellsper was so acutely allergic of, sent the cursed cat into a coma like state.

"Ugh...meow" managed the cat after a few moments, once every single droplet of the offending liquid was removed and her black fur was dry once more. "What hit me?"

"Are you alright, miss?" asked the concerned goddess. Despite the obvious demonic aura emanating from the feline, it was a goddess's obligation to help those in dire need. Or at least try to, given that the cat wasn't going to try anything particularly nasty later on. "You seem to have taken some severe shock. Are you really feeling OK? Do you need any additional assistance miss?"

It took Wellsper a few seconds to realize that this unfamiliar goddess was actually talking to him. "Hey, who are you calling a miss? I'm a guy here!" protested the offended cursed cat, raising his fur as he assumed a ready to strike pose.

"What? I thought that you were a girl for sure." said the slightly confused, but yet somewhat certain goddess. Despite that, she gave the demon a short bow, in hopes to make up for her verbal blunder. "I'm sorry for the mistake, I hope I haven't terribly offended you by my assumption."

Wellsper began to finally relax as this particular goddess was more like Belldandy, instead of the other sassy ones, that used to make fun of him, on every given chance they had. "Well, I guess I can acknowledge your ignorance of my current predicament. So I will let it slide."

The moment was suddenly interrupted when a loud noise came from the house. Four rockets went right through the paper door panels and immediately went after the target the have locked on. The only demon currently located in the temple grounds, Wellsper.

The demonic cat in question, put a valiant effort to try to avoid the incoming threat, but only managed to dodge two of them, while the remaining ones hit him dead on. So, for the second time in less than a few hours, he was sent flying in a ballistic trajectory. At least, this time around, in a direction that didn't include any ponds. Not that this little fact made the whole experience so much better, but given the rotten luck he seemed to have in the last day or so, he was willing to appreciate even something like that.

The goddess for her part, simply gawked at the sudden development, not being able to understand the complete chain of events that took place before her very own eyes. Despite that, she decided to announce her presence to the ones inside the house, now that her temporary company had left the scene in such a dramatic fashion.

XXX

Everyone was gathered around the low table, as Keiichi was enjoying the breakfast that his wife had prepared. Since goddesses didn't require food to sustain themselves, although they could technically eat it, they were simply having some of Belldandy's tea, except for Skuld, who was enjoying the ice cream that she was promised for participating in the wedding ceremony. Of course they all enjoyed some food from time to time, though it was mostly for recreational and social purposes instead of survival. The only exceptions were some goddesses that used some type of alternative energy source that happened to be edible and as such, the would eat as a way to accelerate their power recovery, like Skuld who had ice cream as a secondary energy source or Urd with alcohol. It was a fact that really helped Keiichi's budget as well, since he didn't had to pay for all their meals as well. Snacks were a totally different case however as the all seemed to enjoy them on a regular basis.

For the moment though, the mortal was happily eating his food, pausing for a few seconds now and then in order to congratulate Belldandy for her good job. It was really a scene that seemed to repeat itself again and again during the last few years with little variations, something that was beginning to get on the bronze skinned goddess's nerves. 'Come on you are married now. Say something different for a change, sheesh... '

"Mmm... That tastes really good, Belldandy..." said Keiichi between bites, as he gave his wife a smile.

"I'm so glad Keiichi." replied the first class goddess as she returned her husband's smile with one of own.

"OK, enough with that! You guys go through the same old routine every single day. Come on, you are married now, shouldn't you try to interact a bit differently?" interrupted the goddess of the past, as she reached the limit of her patience. Turning her head, she gave Keiichi one of the stares that she had apparently inherited from her mother. "And you! Say something a bit more romantic. What's with all those comments about the food? Can't you think of something else?"

"But, it is really good. Besides shouldn't I thank her for her effort?" asked Keiichi as he tried to put a brave face and not shiver under Urd's terrifying gaze.

"Besides I no longer call him _'Keiichi-san'_ anymore, Neesan." added Belldandy in an effort to change her big sister's opinion in regards to the situation.

"You should have done that years ago, Belldandy..." said Urd with a long sigh, her previous anger already lost as she relised she was trying to deal with two people that did things on their own pace. "Just give me some more tea..."

At that exact moment, the doorbell signaled the arrival of a guest. It wasn't something unusual that somebody would drop unannounced to Keiichi's home. As a matter of fact very few actually called and informed them in advance.

"I'll get it." volunteered Peorth, hoping that she would manage to get rid of visitor, before they had the chance to interrupt the moment. Yesterday was troublesome as it was, with the rebellion in Niflheim and all that, so they could use some peace for a change.

XXX

The Goddess of the Lake was fidgeting as she waited for somebody to greet her. Did she follow the right protocol that a proper visitor should use? To be honest, the former mortal spent far too much time sealed, so she had little idea what were the current customs. As a matter of fact she didn't know anything about the technology that was used by the present day mortals as well. Back in her days, a few centuries ago, there were no buttons that made a sound when you pressed them. Even if she was supposed to get some feedback from Yggdrasil, in order to keep up with the advancements in the mortal world, that connection was nearly blocked during her penance. The worst part was that due to her previous limitations, she had little interactions with other goddesses, since she couldn't leave her lake that acted as her lifeline.

As the door opened, she bowed slightly in order to show some respect. "Greetings, I am goddess fourth class, special assignment limited, Laguz. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, please to meet you as well." said Peorth with a tiny bit of surprise to find another goddess visiting them. Returning the bow with one of her own she tried to introduce herself as well, "I'm goddess first class, second category unlimited, Peorth. I'm a system administrator, but you may have heard me from my other job as one of the best agents of the Earth Help Center."

The blonde goddess's reaction though was far from the awe that Peorth had probably expected. As she stared or rather gawked at the goddess of the roses, she just couldn't believe what the brunette was actually wearing. Did heaven's dress code change that much during the time she was sealed? She had never really been up there, so she didn't know from personal experience and the other goddess she met lately was just in her battle uniform, not casual clothes.

Peorth waved her hand in front of the blonde's face, that had turned completely red as she kept staring. "Um... hello? Are you OK?" she tried, in order to get the other goddess's attention. But to no avail, as the Lake Goddess remained frozen.

Seeing that it was taking Peorth a lot of time, Keiichi decided to see who was the visitor. "Hey Peorth, who's at the door?" he said from the corridor, as he approached the door.

"Some goddess called Laguz." said Peorth pointing at the embarrassed living statue that was standing in front of her.

The name certainly didn't ring any bells for the young mechanic, but once he was close enough to have a clear view of the visitor, he immediately recognized her. "That's the Lake Goddess from before! What is she doing here?"

Neither answered him, as Peorth didn't know and the other one still couldn't speak.

XXX

"Achoo!"

The loud sneeze interrupted the silence in the deceptively huge room, as most of it was merely a vast bottomless pit, with a throne in the middle and a bridge that provided a connection between that and the entrance. Niflheim's throne room was merely for show, a way to intimidate the ones that visited the Daimakaicho for official business, and not much of a useful working space. There was another one, an actual office that was better suited for everyday use, but it was out of limits for most demons, except for the Daimakaicho herself and her closest subordinates.

With absolutely no furniture, except the throne itself, it was never meant to provide comfort for those that decided to spend time there. Not to mention the ones that decided to actually sleep here.

Hild shifted in her futon, that was placed in the middle of the bridge, trying to get enough distance from the person that occupied the futon right next to hers. Apparently during the course of the previous night, her goddess visitor, had somehow managed to get close enough to get a hold of her. Even worse the sleepy Asgardian, who was snuggling her like a pillow, had positioned her head mounted wings on such angle, that ended up tickling the demoness. "Wake up, you sleepy head."

"Five more minutes Urd-chan..." murmured the still half asleep goddess. "let me stay in bed a bit more..those pillows are just too comfortable..."

'Did she really raised my daughter or was it the other way around?' thought Hild as she stared down at her current company. "I'm not Urd-chan. And those are no pillows either."

Opening her eyes a bit, she tried to take a look on her surroundings, only to realize that she wasn't in her bed in Asgard. "Huh?"

Giving her a wide grin, the Daimakaicho couldn't resist to miss an opportunity to tease her. "You know, for the brief period of time that I had him, your husband liked them as well. Glad to see that you two have similar tastes."

_That_ kickstared the goddess's higher thought processes. Pulling herself away from Hild as fast as she could, Ansuz got on her feet and took a few steps back, only to stumble on the low table they used to play card games the previous night, and fall flat on her rump in a not so ladylike manner. "Oof! You didn't have to do that, Hild..."

"Says you... After molesting me moments ago." replied the demoness in a deadpan voice, as she tried to contain her laughter from seeing the goddess's current predicament. "So are you leaving now?"

Ansuz let out a sigh as she got up. "Say what you will Hild, but it was fun to be like that again. Like the good old days."

"Yes. Like tho old says.." whispered the demoness, as she observed her friend looking around the area as if she was searching for a lost item. "What's wrong?"

The goddess didn't reply immediately and rather continued to go through the various board games that were all around the floor, until she realized that the item she wanted was nowhere to be found. "Umm... this may be a bit embarrassing, but... well... you see..."

"Quit fumbling and just say it, will you!?" said Hild in an irritated voice, not in the mood to play games anymore. She did that yesterday and as much as she enjoyed her friend's company, there were still things that needed to be done. Places to be and all that.

The goddess looked extremely worried, feeling that Hild wouldn't let her live this one down, but the Daimakaicho wanted an answer, and an answer she was going to get. No matter how embarrassing that may be. "I cannot find my staff. Have you seen it anywhere?"

The best thing that Hild could do was to just stare at Ansuz in stunned amazement. "Wait a second... You're joking, right?"

"I'm afraid I am not." was the simple but honest answer. As a matter of fact, it was also the only one she could think of as well.

"You lost the Judgement Gate!?" asked the still shocked demoness, before she started laughing. "Bwahaha... Good riddance, I'd say!"

"Hey! Do you know or not?" asked Ansuz as she felt her patience running out.

As soon as Hild got a hold of herself, at least to the point where she could give a response that wasn't interrupted by fits of laughter, she pointed downwards. "Think where we're standing. There is only one place it may have fallen to, actually."

It was absolutely logical to think that, but the goddess didn't even want to consider it. Getting closer to the edge of the chasm, she glanced down at the dark abyss bellow, a sight that would make even the bravest mortals feel absolutely terrified. "Down there?" she said in a quiet voice, almost wishing it wasn't true. "Uh, Hild-san, where does that go?"

For her part the demoness in question was already fearing that question. "Somewhere terrible. Don't ask. Hopefully the safety nets captured your toy, before it went all the way down there."

This was going to be another long day by the looks of it.

XXX

"I'm terrible sorry!" apologized for the third time the blonde goddess as soon as she got inside the house. "My reaction was just uncalled for, Peorth-san. Please forgive me."

"Oh, I forgive you, alright. _She's_ the one I won't forgive." said Peorth, before she pointidely stared at the other side of the table were Urd was laughing uncontrollably, "Quit that! It's not nearly as funny as you make it!"

"Really? I don't know, I kinda liked it." managed the goddess of the past as she returned the angry look that Peorth was giving her, with an amused one of her own.

"I told you that you would get embarrassed looks, Peorth." said the Valkyrie in her usual stoic manner, interrupting the two other goddess's conversation.

"You too!?" asked Peorth in an amazed voice. "Fine! Since everyone wants to make fun of me, I'll go and let you laugh as much as you want." and with that the goddess of the roses, got out of the room, in order to blow some steam off.

"Peorth..." started to say the goddess of the present, but her fellow wish granter was already on her way. Turning to her older sibling, she gave Urd a disapproving look, "Neesan, you shouldn't tease Peorth that much. She may be hurt by that."

"Nah, she'll come around. We always tease each other like that, it's not a big deal." said Urd in a dismissive tone. "But if it makes you feel any better, I will make her one of those rose perfumes she likes so much. As a matter of fact I may do that right now, as I don't have anything better to do."

"Speaking of things to do." said the youngest of the sisters, "I need to restock my bomb supply. So I'll be in my room. See you later."

And with that those two left for their own rooms, leaving the rest staring at each other.

"Actually I have some business to attend to as well." said Lind, and before anyone noticed anything she retrieved an item that was kept out of sight and left the room as well.

"Well." started Belldandy, "I need to clean up, so why don't you show her the temple, Keiichi?"

"Sure thing Belldandy." said the mechanic.

"Wait, you don't need to bother with me." objected the other goddess in the room. "You must have better things to do, than wasting time with me like that."

"Treating a guest, is something I wouldn't ever consider as wasting time." said Belldandy with a shake of her head. "Besides there must be a lot of things that changed since the time you last walked on the Earth."

"My connection with Yggdrasil can provide me with all the necessary information, so please don't bother." insisted the Lake Goddess.

"It's not a bother." said Keiichi "As Belldandy said, we don't ignore a guest. Besides there is a difference between getting some information second handed and experiencing that by yourself."

"Yes, that's right Keiichi." agreed Belldandy, offering him a smile that he gladly returned.

'I see, so that's how those two are.' thought Laguz. "Very well, in that case I gladly accept your kind offer.

* * *

AN: The Lake Goddess was never really named in the series. But leaving her with something that looks more like a title, didn't seem appropriate. As such I thought that the rune Laguz might be fitting for her since it can be roughly translated as "Water" or "Lake". Additionally many other characters from the series are named after runes, with Peorth being the best known example (not the only one though).


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

"Good grief!" exclaimed Peorth, as she got on top of the temple's roof, in order to vent a little bit. "What's so wrong about my clothes anyway? It's not like the others have never shown some skin. Urd in particular," mused the irate goddess.

There was no one around to hear the goddess' complaint, save her ever-present angel, Gorgeous Rose that decided to materialize and support her goddess.

'You can always try something new once in a while. I remember you constantly changing your clothing style before you first arrived here, but soon after you ended up with this particular outfit,' said the angel over the link she shared with her host.

"I don't know about that, Gorgeous Rose. My style was consistent, more or less. While I made some variations here and there, it was still far from a total overhaul," said Peorth with a shrug. "However, you do seem to have a point there. I did stop changing my outfits after the whole double contract incident back when I first arrived here," wondered the goddess. "Come to think of it, I never really noticed."

The blonde angel gave her mistress a little smile. 'Maybe because you have gained some friends that care more about you than your appearance.'

"That's a really funny thing to say," mumbled the embarrassed goddess as she crossed her arms and looked away. "Because those friends seem to pay a lot attention to how I dress lately."

'They are only joking around with you. Which is another thing as well, mistress,' said her angel. 'Not that long ago, you would have taken those words as a serious insult and held a grudge on them.'

Peorth remained silent, even though she knew it was pointless since she shared thoughts with her angel. It was entirely true that in the past she did have the bad habit of keeping grudges, even over seemingly unimportant things. Like the incident that made her dislike Belldandy, a long time ago. She was so overly concerned by whether the motivations of those around her were genuine or not, that she missed the entire picture in many occasions. At least that was no longer the case for her.

After a long pause, she let out a sigh and turned to Gorgeous Rose. "I guess I can see your point. So I'll humor them in this occasion."

Getting up, she focused a bit of her power, causing a micro skirt to materialize and attach to her ever present leather accessories that she wore around her. Since it was made from the exact same material as the rest of her leather articles of clothing, the newest addition to her getup felt almost as if it always there. Finally taking a look at herself, she happily posed for her angel, "Well, what do you think?"

The blonde angel spent a few seconds waiting, until she realized that her mistress was expecting for her answer. 'Um... I'm sorry, but I just expected something a bit... more? I mean... you only added a skirt on top of your current outfit.'

Her host wasn't terribly amused by the verdict. "Oh, I see. You want something more like Belldandy's goddess gown. I can do that, I suppose. We're going to look very elegant with me in a stylish floral pattern dress and you in the most fashionable white angel robes."

Gorgeous Rose was smiling at her mistress, until she realized the implications of Peorth's last sentence. The angel's smile slowly faded as she realized the implications of her mistress' threat. Her hands shot quickly, a little too quickly, perhaps, to the vines that surrounded her. Her eyes full of worry, she gulped as her 'voice' shook slightly, 'M-mistress, those are part of myself. I don't want to part with them!'

Sensing a victory, the goddess went on. "Well, it has to be done, since you don't like my modifications..."

'Looking at your outfit again mistress, I must admit, that the tiny skirt looks absolutely perfect on you,' said a happy Gorgeous Rose. Perhaps a little bit too happy. Or desperate, depending on the point of view.

"Well in that case, I suppose I'll do you the favor and keep it," said Peorth as she tried to hide her wide smile from managing to manipulate her own angel. Not that it mattered though, since those two were sharing thoughts and emotions, but it was nice to pull something like that once in a while. And Gorgeous Rose didn't seem to care either. Instead, she was happily hugging her vines, as if they were a long lost friend. "And now that I think about it, I can use some of my more daring clothes if I have that to cover them."

The angel just blinked at that. If there was any point in this whole conversation, her mistress somehow managed to miss it. Then again that's how Peorth was.

Both of them turned as they heard a noise approaching the temple.

"Isn't that Keiichi's sister? Gorgeous Rose, hide," said Peorth, as she hurried to get off the roof, while her angel returned back into her host. Curious, she approached the temple's entrance to see what the young woman wanted.

XXX

Sayoko Mishima was currently debating whether or not to get out of her bed. Just yesterday, she found herself near Tokyo with little memory of how she got there in the first place. As if the strange experience was not enough, her initial assumptions were also wrong, as she currently felt no side effects that could be associated with the consumption of any significant amount of alcohol. Even right now, she couldn't recall what happened during those few hours, almost as if any memory of the event was completely wiped out from her mind, leaving no traces behind. Having to call a taxi in order to get back to Nekomi was the least of her concerns. Money wasn't the issue. It was the general weirdness of the situation and the fact that the found the word 'prince' distasteful for some obscure reason. Finally, after a few more minutes of thinking, she decided to just deal with it and got out of the bed in order to do something better than wasting her time.

After putting some clothes on, she lazily headed for the kitchen of her luxurious apartment in order to grab some breakfast. Just as she started to eat, she wondered if her luck was going to be better today. Perhaps some shopping would improve her mood and help her forget all that nonsense. Nothing beats the good old fashioned shopping therapy, especially considering all the money she had at her disposal. However, her thoughts as well as her breakfast, were rudely interrupted by the sound of her cellphone.

'Let's see who it is... Toshiyuki? What does he want?' thought the rich woman in a distasteful manner as she checked the caller's ID on the screen. There was only one reason for her cousin to call her these days. Belldandy. Just the person she didn't really need right now. Seeing that the phone wouldn't stop ringing anytime soon, she decided to get it over with. "Hello, this is Sayoko."

"Good morning, Sayoko, I hope I didn't wake you up..." started her cousin in his usual smooth manner, even though there was an edge in his voice, almost as if he was trying his best to remain polite. "I believe you heard the news."

"News? What news are you talking about?" asked the woman who was gradually loosing her temper from having to deal with her annoying cousin, despite the fact that it was very hard to notice that in her voice that remained calm. 'I hope this isn't about some stupid rumor...'

"Why the marriage of Belldandy and that... Morisato, of course," was the simple reply.

"Huh?!" Now that was something that she never expected to hear. She did think that it was about time for those two to get serious with their relationship, but so far nobody had ever seen them act like any other normal couple out there. The most they have ever managed, was to hold hands and that was really kindergarten level. Well, they did kiss once during that stupid game of life they played some years ago, but she always assumed it was just part of it. Now, they were suddenly getting married?

"Hello, are you still there?" asked the man at the other end of the line, due to the long pause.

Sayoko snapped out of her thoughts and decided to get more details about that unlikely event "Yes, I'm here. When did that happen? I never heard anything about it. You would expect that there would be enough rumors going on, with Belldandy being so popular."

"Well, I just heard it myself to be honest. I must give them at least some credit for pulling this off in total secrecy," said Aoshima. "If I'm not mistaken, even those buffoons at the Motor Club had no idea, until the ceremony was over. But one must wonder, what's with all that secrecy?"

"Who knows?" replied Sayoko in a dismissive tone. "Maybe they worried that you'd involve yourself yet again, in some last minute challenge. Honestly though? I don't care, just let them be."

"You almost sound like you're happy about it, Sayoko," said the man, a bit surprised to hear that.

"Why not? For starters, now that she's married all of Belldandy's popularity will disappear. She is no longer available and the chance that she may dump her boyfriend is now gone for good," said Sayoko in a happy voice. "This only means that she'll no longer be the Queen of the Campus anymore. No way a married woman would get that title anymore. Plus all that talk about her will disappear as well. The only person to fit the title will be me, just like before." Unless of course Urd tried to pull something off, despite the fact that she wasn't even a student there. After all that didn't stop her from participating in that contest before.

That clearly wasn't what the rich playboy wanted to hear. It almost seemed that his ally was no longer even interested, so he tried a different approach. "But there are no guarantees for that. Belldandy had managed to pull some impossible things in the past, so who says that it won't happen again? If there was something else behind it, and she were to be exposed, wouldn't that make it more interesting?"

"Like what? Are you looking for a scandal, Toshiyuki?" asked Sayoko as she started to get where this was likely heading.

"Precisely! If she was involved into anything like that, then even her most die-hard fans would forget about her," said an overly enthusiastic Aoshima, feeling that with this, he would secure some extra help in his efforts.

'I'm going to regret this,' thought Sayoko. "So what do you have in mind?"

"I believe that you have been there on a few occasions, Sayoko. I suppose it wouldn't be impossible for you to go see them once more and perhaps... well... leave a listening device behind," said Aoshima. "I mean I would love to do that by myself, but I don't think that they would buy the story that I just decided to visit them."

"They most certainly wouldn't," she agreed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was unwanted there. "Let's get this over with. Should I come and pick you up from your place?"

"Sounds like a plan. I'll get the spying gadget, that I bought, ready," said Aoshima.

"Fine I'll be there in an hour. Give me some time to get ready to visit them," finally said Sayoko, before she ended the call.

'So much for having better luck today,' thought Sayoko as she let out a sigh. She could already feel that this day was also not going to be much better, but at the same time she couldn't avoid being curious. In all honesty, she didn't really care about all that spying nonsense that Aoshima was interested in, but at the same time, it was certainly interesting to get more details about that situation.

Maybe she needed to buy them a gift and pretend that she wanted to congratulate them, in order to look a bit less suspicious. And with that, she started to look through her impressive wardrobe for something to wear.

XXX

The first person that Megumi met as she arrived at the Tariki Hongan temple was Peorth, the bizarre woman that seemed to visit her brother from time to time. In all honesty, she couldn't figure her out. Even though she was told that Peorth was a foreigner from the same country that Belldandy and her sisters came from, Megumi just didn't know how to describe what the other brunette was using for casual clothes. She was a weird one for sure, but she always assumed that she must have been good friends with Belldandy, since the latter allowed her to be like that around Keiichi. Or perhaps her brother was very lucky to have a woman that didn't know what jealousy was.

If only she knew...

After all, ignorance is bliss, as they say.

"Hello there, Megumi-san," said Peorth in her usual business like and very polite manner. "Worried about your brother? There is no need for that. He is certainly in good hands."

"Not really... Well, not because of that at least," said the young woman. "Have you seen him? I really need to speak to him. It's important."

The rose goddess scratched her chin as she thought about it. "I think I heard him in the back, near the shed where he parks his bike, showing the vehicle to Laguz. Unless I'm mistaken."

"Who? Wait, you mean there's another one like you here?" asked a puzzled Megumi.

"Like me? Well not exactly. But from a certain point of view, you could say yes," said Peorth, as she tried to explain the situation with the other 'goddess', while not saying too much by accident. Laguz didn't have the same license as her, and as a matter of fact, she wasn't technically a goddess either. Instead, she was made into one, due to a contract that the Daitenkaicho had offered her. So it was a bit hard to go around all that while not saying something that might be too revealing or even worse, a lie. "It's, uh, complicated..."

In the meanwhile the mortal's facial expression turned a bit dark, just like her mood. 'Here I am worrying about him and he just spends time with yet _another_ woman. Belldandy must be the sweetest person on Earth, since I would have kicked his butt if I was in her position.' Thanking Peorth out loud, she decided to just go and find her surprisingly popular brother.

Indeed, on the other side of the house, Keiichi was demonstrating his prized BMW bike to the goddess that had never seen anything like that with her own eyes.

"So this is what people are riding around in these days..." said Laguz as she circled around the bike with the sidecar, taking in all the details.

"Well, it may certainly look complicated, but in all honesty, it just burns gasoline to move the wheel in the back. That's all there is to it." said Keiichi as he tried to keep the whole discussion as simple as he could, despite the fact that it was probably unnecessary. What the Lake Goddess lacked wasn't knowledge, but experience. It kind of reminded him the whole incident with the Gate not too long ago, when she wanted to gain experiences as well, despite the vast amount of information that she possessed. At least Laguz wasn't going to try and start kissing them like the Gate.

There was something a bit off in the goddess' expression as she tried to understand the whole concept. "You mean you burn the decomposed remains of living organisms that died millions of years ago, in order to power it? Somehow it feels wrong."

Keiichi just blinked as he thought about it. "Maybe, if you look at it from that perspective. But I suppose you already chopped down trees to start fires back then, right?"

"Well, guilty as charged, I'm afraid," said the goddess in an apologetic voice.

"You know, instead of talking about it, how about going for a ride? I'm sure that's going to be more interesting than sitting here and staring at the bike," said Keiichi, thinking that she would really be more enthusiastic about the subject if she had the chance to try it instead of having a conversation about it.

"Thank you for your offer, but I must decline," said Laguz as she looked a bit sad. "You see, even right now I'm still bound to my lake, which in this case is your pond over there. While the distance I can walk away from the water is decent, I have a feeling that if we use this vehicle we will reach my limits in no time. Besides," Laguz said, "having to move my home would be more trouble than it'd be worth for you, Morisato-san. I don't think we'd exactly be able to hide it from the people living around here, either!"

"I see..." was all that Keiichi said for a while. He never really understood just how difficult it must have been for her to live anchored in a spot for such a long time. Even with her new abilities, the limitations were still there. He briefly wondered if there might be something that the other goddesses could do to help her with her problem.

Sensing his sadness, the goddess tried to change the subject. "It's a lot more lively here though. In my old place, I rarely had any visitors. Most of the time I was just by myself, while here there are a lot of people living right next to me. Even more, from what I've heard it's hardly a boring place at all," she added with a smile.

That did the trick for Keiichi, who couldn't help but nervously scratch the back of his head as he laughed a bit, "That's true! We always seem to have all sorts of things happening or someone appearing out of the blue."

Looking over Keiichi's shoulder, Laguz noticed a short haired young woman coming at them. "As a matter of fact, we may already have one visitor."

Turning around to see who the goddess was talking about, he spotted his sister. "Gah! Megumi! I didn't expect you so early today. What's the matter?" In all reality he didn't expect her at all, but saying that would just agitate his younger sibling more.

Taking a moment to observe the blonde woman that her brother was talking to, Megumi wondered where all those girls were coming from. Unlike Belldandy and the others, this woman had no facial marks, so it was possible that she didn't come from the same country as them, although her appearance didn't look Japanese either. Her clothes were also very different too. Realizing that she was staring, she tried to introduce herself "Hello there, I'm Megumi Morisato, Keiichi's little sister."

"Pleased to meet you, Megumi-san, my name is Laguz," said the Lake Goddess offering the mortal woman a friendly smile.

In the meanwhile Keiichi, whose question was ignored, tried to ask his sister again, hoping that it was not the usual double dose of trouble that followed her whenever she visited. "So... Megumi, what brings you here today?"

"Aww geez, Kei-chan, you don't need to be so friendly. I can already see that you want me to leave already. You know, in order to spend more time with your _wife,_" said Megumi, as she deliberately emphasized the last word in hopes that the message would get through her brother's thick skull.

Getting the meaning behind it, the goddess merely apologized before Keiichi had a chance to reply. "I know that I haven't picked the best time to show up, but Belldandy-san said it was fine to show me around while she cleaned up the kitchen."

"That's fine and everything, but..." said Keiichi. "The real question is what happened this time?"

"If you're implying anything, Kei-chan, then I'm not in any sort of trouble," said Megumi as she crossed her arms. "I wish I could say the same about you though."

"Why? What did I do this time...?" asked her puzzled brother as he tried to think of anything that he may have done wrong.

"Well, I forgot to ask you yesterday, but did you tell them?" asked Megumi in a deadly serious voice. "You know... Takano and Keima."

_That_ got Keiichi's attention. In all the craziness that had happened yesterday, he had forgotten one of the most important things: to call his parents and let them know he'd tied the knot. "Oh, no..." and with that, he rushed back into the house, in order to call them, secretly hoping that it wasn't too late.

The two women that were left behind, only stared at his retreating form, before he totally disappeared inside the house. Turning to goddess with an expression that resembled that of a cat, Megumi decided to learn a bit more about the new face. "So... You're the new girl that's going to live in Kei-chan's house, right?"

"Actually that's incorrect. I'm not going to live in his house," said Laguz as she tried to avoid telling the whole truth. 'I'll be staying in the little pond, not inside the house,' she thought.

"Eh?! Really? So I was wrong?" asked Megumi, only to get a simple nod as an answer.

XXX

Urd was currently taking inventory of every potion, ingredient and alchemical instrument she had. With the house being blown up more than once in a single day, she felt that it was necessary to check if everything in her room was missing or broken. While not the simplest of tasks, she didn't mind at all. In fact it did take her mind off some more serious issues. The day before had a few surprises for her, as it appeared that she knew very little about her parents' relationship. Most of what she had always assumed turned out to be completely wrong and the worst part was that she had no idea what to make of the new information. As a goddess she believed that she was the byproduct of her mother's attempt to seduce her counterpart, but in all honesty not many goddesses would have ever risked that much to just see their lovers just once more. Actually no one ever did that.

She knew that avoiding the subject forever was not realistic, but for the time being she had to keep treating her mother the same way as she had no real idea of what to do. She didn't really hate her in the first place, instead she was afraid that getting too close to her would slowly increase the influence of her demonic side and cause her to switch sides. Messing around with her new brother-in-law was only just a temporary thing to keep her mind off the real issues. And speaking of issues, she should also do something about Belldandy and Keiichi's marriage as well. Even though those two were officially married in a divine ceremony, as far as the mortals were concerned, they were still single. Well, she could always just hack into the local government's computers and list them as officially married. A simple task for someone that is the administrator of one of the two most advanced and complicated computer systems in existence.

Suddenly, the sound of someone knocking her door brought her full attention back to her surroundings. "Yes?"

"It's Lind. May I come in?" said the Valkyrie in her usual stoic manner, without wasting her words and getting straight to the point.

That was unexpected. She wouldn't have been surprised if Peorth dropped by, to get all the details of what happened in Niflheim, since she was stuck on Earth along with Lind. The rose goddess loved gossip and she certainly wouldn't pass on the chance to get any juicy details. But Lind? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she turned to the door to address her visitor. "Come right in."

Opening the sliding door, the white clad goddess walked into the room that was labeled as 'Urd's Castle'. It looked exactly same as the last time she's been here during the Angel Eater incident, although this time most of the room's items were all over the place.

"Don't mind that stuff," said Urd, as she read the other goddess' expression. "I'm just checking if everything is fine. Take a seat somewhere. Do you want anything at all? I've got some sake left in my cabinets."

"Thank you, but that won't be necessary," said Lind as she stood right in front of Urd, extending her arm to show the little black package in her hand. "That thing arrived today, early in the morning. It was for Belldandy."

"If that's the case, why did you bring it to me?" asked a perplexed Urd, as she stared at the offered item. "She's probably back in the kitchen."

"It's a gift from the Daimakaicho."

_That_ was all that the Valkyrie needed to say in order to explain the situation.

Indeed, the Goddess of the Past, gave the item a critical look, before she turned back to Lind. "Have you taken a look inside?"

"Not really. I've examined it briefly, but the only thing I came up with is that it contains an angel's egg. Nothing else beyond that. Of course I haven't opened it and that's why I'm here. You probably have more experience with this type of things than me," said Lind, as she handed the tiny package to Urd.

'You mean that I have more experience with stuff made from demons, because I'm a half demoness, don't you?' thought Urd, though part of her dismissed that as nonsense. Unlike other goddesses, this particular Valkyrie was too naively honest to try and think something like that behind somebody's back.

Picking the item in her own hands, she immediately had the same conclusion as Lind. Using a low power diagnostic spell on the contents of the box, it certainly registered as an angel egg and not some obvious trap. Unwrapping the package, after she took the bow off, she found a box with the inscription _'To Belldandy from Hild' _on the top side. Urd groaned as the thing almost looked as a gift that one would give to their lover. What was her mother up to this time? Because if it was a prank, it certainly wasn't a very impressive one. Opening the box, she found the egg itself, as well as a folded piece of paper.

_'Dear Belldandy, _

_I would like to thank you for your effort in playing your part in the recent events that allowed me to get myself back in the position of the Daimakaicho for the second time. As such, I cannot ignore the fact that I do indeed owe you a favor and as a demon, it is imperative that I have to repay my debt. This egg was originally meant for my daughter as an effort to create the perfect angel for her. I must admit that I have never liked those angels that you rely on so much, so I decided to create one that would negate most of the weaknesses that they posses. Unfortunately in doing so, I have also taken away most of the strengths as well and left it in an extremely weakened state, incapable to fully bond with anyone. As such I have never given it to Urd, as it would be utterly useless to her, but I assume that your new husband might find it useful. Since he seems to be capable of sustaining a fully powered angel for a while, it should be no problem to support this low powered angel for extended periods of time as it wouldn't drain him nearly as much. It will be something that he may find definitely handy one day._

_Best regards, _

_Daimakaicho Hild'_

Looking the egg and then back at the letter, Urd was unsure what to make of it. Realizing that the Valkyrie was waiting for some type of response, she decided to just tell her the truth. "It seems to be exactly that. An angel egg. I'll have to take a closer look for anything that may be hidden from normal scrying spells, so it may take a while for me to fully analyze it properly. At least to the point where I can definitively say that is safe."

"But what is Belldandy supposed to do with it in the first place?" asked Lind. "She already has Holy Bell."

"True, but this isn't meant for her actually," said Urd as she pointed at the letter in her hand. "It's actually for Keiichi."

Taking a look at the letter, the Valkyrie had her doubts about that whole thing. "You don't really believe all this, do you? It feels almost like a trap. Besides, how did they have the knowledge to create an angel egg? Not to mention, one with such extensive customizations."

Urd couldn't disagree that the other goddess had a point. "Your concerns are indeed valid, but remember that they know a lot more that you give them credit for. The Angel Eater used an exploit, in order to summon our angels, that even we didn't know anything about, until it was used against us. Some even think that the demon familiars were reverse engineered from angels in the first place."

"But if that is truly the case then why isn't that a demon familiar? Why bother creating a custom angel?" asked Lind.

"Because in that case, I wouldn't have accepted to take it," said Urd as she looked down. "It was supposed to be for me in the first place. Or at least that's what it looks like. Demons can be unpredictable, so I'll have to make sure that this is indeed the case and we're not dealing with a Trojan horse."

"Very well. I agree with you, up to a point. This needs investigating at the very least," said Lind after she spent a few seconds thinking her options. "If you find anything out, please inform me as soon as possible. Even if I'm back in Asgard."

"Don't worry, I will," nodded the bronze skinned goddess as she watched the Valkyrie leave her room. Finally alone, she took a second glance at the box itself and noticed that the inscription was actually just a fancy sticker on top of something else. Using her nails, she managed to remove the sticker, allowing herself to see the original inscription below.

_'To Urd-chan from Mama'_

XXX

Meanwhile, in the deep chasm underneath the throne room of Niflheim, a demoness and a goddess watched at the sight in front of them. There were a few safety nets originally designed to capture anything or anyone that somehow managed to fall into the dark abyss around the throne itself. Although not originally part of the room itself, those nets proved useful as they captured items that have often accidentally fallen off, without forcing anyone to have to go all the way to the bottom of the pit to retrieve them. Despite that they were still low enough that one wouldn't see them from up there, especially in all that darkness.

The current issue was that they have proved themselves useless as there was a noticeable tear in the middle of them, a clear sign that something just went though.

The goddess couldn't resist closing her eyes and pinching the bridge of her nose as she stared at the torn net. "So much for that idea. Tell me that there are other ones bellow that as well."

"Actually no. Beyond that there is nothing until the very bottom of the pit," said Hild as she inspected the damage. "Let's go around them. There are openings we can use to bypass them in case we have to go down there. So let's stop wasting out time here. Besides it's your fault in the first place. Why did you use the Gate as giant axe? We wouldn't have to deal with this if it wasn't in the form of such a sharp object."

"Well, excuse me! It's just more convenient to use it as a weapon in that configuration. I mean, how am I supposed to use it for that purpose in its original form? Smash someone on the head with the door itself?" said the annoyed goddess as she tried to defend her decisions.

"Sounds equally effective and substantially more comical, you violent former Valkyrie. Plus, why don't you try to use a different object for a weapon? Cutting corners in the expenses?" asked the Daimakaicho in an effort to further agitate her goddess friend.

And by the looks of it, her efforts were rather successful. "Cutting corners? That's preposterous! Especially coming from someone who doesn't use the proper materials for their _safety_ nets."

"Says the goddess who kicked her _precious_ axe down the abyss," said Hild in a mocking tone. "At least you didn't drop it a volcano or something."

"How dare you!" said Ansuz in an almost hurt voice.

"Well, it won't get up here by itself, so let's go down there, shall we?" It was a pretty obvious thing to say, but Hild felt the need to first distract her friend before they went down there. The truth was that those nets were made by a very sturdy material. The Gate in her axe form would have never managed to get though just by itself, under the influence of gravity. Something or somebody did this on purpose. But the last thing at the moment was for Ansuz to assume that she did it due to her dislike of that darn thing. If nothing else it would just start an actual argument that wouldn't solve any problems or answer any questions.

Like what was really going on here.

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

Sayoko was losing her patience. Looking at her expensive gold watch once more, it was painfully obvious that Aoshima was late. At least the sound system of her Mercedes 500SL blocked the irritating noise of the other commuters and the pedestrians that went on with their usual business. Something that she really wished she could do as well, instead of waiting in her parked car, right next to a fancy electronic store in downtown Nekomi. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, Sayoko thought that it was normally the ladies who were supposed to take their time, and yet she had gotten ready quickly. Instead, her moron of a cousin was taking his sweet time with his shopping trip for the necessary supplies.

A good ten minutes later, Aoshima walked with a couple of bags and casually walked over to the parked Mercedes. "I believe I have everything we need," he said, as his cousin lowered the window once she saw him approaching.

"Good, put all that in the trunk and get in." Sayoko's primary concern was the approaching encounter with the couple and not the bag's contents. She was never extremely friendly towards the inhabitants of the Tariki Hongan temple. Because of that, making such a sudden appearance would seem a bit suspicious. Then again, the couple's marriage was probably a good enough reason for a visit.

"Quite the impatient one, aren't we, Sayoko?" said Aoshima with his ever present fake smile plastered on his face. "Although, I must admit that it took me a bit longer than anticipated. I simply insisted to test all the purchased items before I left the store. With that we can finally learn what's going on."

"Whatever..." Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she started the engine and tried to remember the closest route to the temple.

XXX

Keiichi was currently sweating bullets. Picking up the phone was such a simple task and yet so difficult at the moment. It was always a bit hard to tell your parents that you wanted to marry your lovely girlfriend, but doing that after the ceremony was substantially harder. Truth to be told though, Keiichi's family was a bit unconventional, even weird according to some. So, after all, there was the possibility that they may take it well. On the other hand, that gave him little to no idea on how they might react. Most of the stereotypical interactions he had seen in Urd's soap operas didn't apply here.

'What's the worst that can happen?' he thought, as he tried to calm himself down. Disowning him was the least of his concerns, since they weren't rich anyway. Plus, he was already pretty independent and living far away from his home town in Hokkaido. Most of his money was coming from his job at Whirlwind, so he could support himself and his wife without any extra help. A position in the family business was also something that he never wanted in the first place. Why such a talented mechanic chose to be a glass artisan was beyond Keiichi, but he wasn't one to judge his father's career choice. At any rate that was also irrelevant as he lacked the skills and experience, as he was totally into machines and knew next to nothing about glass.

Not any calmer at all, he decided to just get it over with and make the call. Only to stop yet again. Even if he dialed the number, he had no idea how to say it. Most likely, he would just sit there stuttering gibberish, and while some found it to be amusing, it certainly wouldn't do any good. Aside from making himself look like an idiot.

In fact that's exactly what he did with Belldandy's father as well. Panicked like a turkey before the holidays season, he just spewed out a lot of things in front of the leader of the Heavens. It wasn't the best first impression and perhaps one of the reasons the god may have chewed him out before giving him his daughter's hand. Or maybe that's how his personality really was, a terrifying prospect for the poor mortal who could barely handle the god's former wife.

Utterly defeated, Keiichi decided to just go with the whole truth. Well... Perhaps not the entire thing, as it included words like 'goddess' or 'wish', but just state the fact that he simply got married. Then he could hope for the best.

Taking a few deep breaths, he reached for the phone once again, but this time with a much stronger resolve and a look of sheer determination. Dialing the number, he waited for a few seconds, until somebody answered.

"It is I," said a stern and deadly serious voice.

"Huh?!" _He_ wasn't the father he was looking for.

"I'll be brief, since I'm very busy post processing the various reports from the recent incident in Niflheim. Just inform Peorth and Lind that after they submit their own reports through the System, they can stay for some time, if they so desire," said Tyr in his typical and slightly intimidating manner. Especially since his real voice was much lower and far more serious than the one that Keiichi heard while the god was possessing the Gate.

"R-really?" stammered Keiichi as he tried something to say. "So, they're staying?"

"Well, within reason of course. Tell them it's a reward for their actions and quick thinking during the whole incident. Not an extended vacation, but at least a chance to relax for a while."

"I'll tell them, um... sir... I mean... uh... father?" tried the mechanic as he wasn't sure what to call the god. To make matters even worse, he wasn't entirely comfortable with using the word 'father' as he didn't even use it back at home.

"Father will do," was the simple reply, although it sounded a bit more like a command.

"Yes, I would agree," said Keiichi, not feeling brave enough to get too familiar with the god, given his attitude. Although, it probably wasn't something personal, as he remembered that Tyr was very business like with his daughters as well, a fact that preventing him from realizing that the god was not only their boss, but also their father.

"Now, before I forget, I've got something that was made especially for Belldandy. I'll have someone drop it off at a later time, once things are a bit less hectic up here," said Tyr.

"Really? What is it?" asked Keiichi, as he couldn't hide his curiosity.

"It's best to wait and see for yourselves," said Tyr, not particularly wanting to go though a lengthy explanation. "Oh, by the way, your parents that you previously attempted to contact, aren't home."

"What?" How did he know that he was trying to call his parents?

Almost as if the god was reading his thoughts, he offered an answer right away. "I noticed the number you were dialing, before I redirected the call. As for their whereabouts... All I know is that they're already traveling to your location. Beyond that, you'll have to find out on your own. Give my daughters my regards."

"Oh, I will. Thank you... father," said Keiichi, still struggling to say that last word.

"You are welcome." And with that the Daitenkaicho hung up, leaving Keiichi both baffled and worried.

For starters, he had no idea what the leader of the gods meant by giving Belldandy something. A gift maybe? Then again anything was possible with that one... But the most troublesome news was that his parents were coming for a visit on their own. He was uncertain whether to call it a sign of good fortune or bad. It was going to be easier for him to speak to them in person, but on the other hand, if things didn't go well, they wouldn't be on the other side of the country. Well... maybe half that distance in fact, but that wasn't the most important thing right now. He needed to prepare.

His thoughts were interrupted as the voice of his wife came from the kitchen. "Keiichi, was there someone on the phone? I'm sorry, but I didn't seem to hear it ring."

Turning to his left, he could see her stare at him from the kitchen's half open door. "No, it wasn't ringing. I was the one that tried to make a call. Although I ended with another wrong number, I guess."

Giving her husband a worried look, she couldn't help but ask the obvious question, "Did you call yet _another_ goddess?" Seriously, someone had to do something about those overlapping contracts. This was getting out of hand.

"No, no no!" said the panicked mortal, who tried to prevent Belldandy from getting the wrong idea. "It was your father actually."

That in fact made her even more worried. "Did something happen?"

"Not really. I'll tell you about it in a minute, but in the meantime we should be getting ready for having some guests," said Keiichi, who was suddenly in a hurry, since he didn't know just how much time they had for all that.

"Yes!" was the goddess' response as she gave him a bright smile. Belldandy was always happy to offer her hospitality to some visitors, regardless who they were.

And with that, the couple started to plan for the arrival of Keiichi's parents.

XXX

The blonde demoness glared at the mountain of letters that were currently neatly stacked on her desk. To make matters even worse, the fact that she had to answer every single one of them was giving her a bad migraine. Their content wasn't anything terribly important or original either, just the stereotypical congratulations for Hild-sama's second term as the Daimakaicho. Those boot-licking two timers must have worked really hard to send the same stupid letters to whoever was the top demon of Niflheim, in hopes to score some good points for themselves. At the far corner of her office, there was a similar amount of practically identical ones, sent mere hours after she became the Daimakaicho herself. The only real difference was the receiver's name. Ironically, before they even had the chance to arrive, there was no _Daimakaicho_ Hagall anymore.

But that was irrelevant. Just who the Heavens, uses old fashioned mail at this time and date, anyways? Sadly, sending the same thing in digital format was often seen as impolite in the eyes of the demons, a sign that they have not spent the effort needed for such an occasion, especially considering that the recipient was their leader. And replying to them in any different manner could cost Hild-sama some points in terms of public relations, making it a necessity to go though them one by one and write down an answer to whatever boring garbage they had sent. Even worse, unlike other demons, Hild-sama wanted to do that herself, instead of the more common practice of having a bunch of her underlings do that job for her.

Until she just had to put her big foot in her mouth and volunteered for the job, totally forgetting the fact that these weren't the digital mails she was more used to. Sometimes, she wondered why she had to go and do such stupid things. Maybe it was because she felt that it was necessary to offer a proper apology for causing all that mess, despite the fact that she did it for her mistress' sake to begin with. It wasn't her fault that she was deliberately left in the dark about that little loophole in the demonic law that allowed Hild-sama to get an additional term after she regained her position back from her.

Most demons in her position would have gotten furious for being used like that, but Hagall had always considered the Daimakaicho as a mother, instead of just her boss. After Hild-sama saved her life back when she was just a young demoness, she had gone on to raise her, almost as if Hagall were her own. She did seem to realize that there was something special about Hagall when all the others treated her as a failure. In fact that was the only reason why the blonde demoness was currently Niflheim's second in command, a most impressive position given her inability to use her powers in the traditional manner. She had indeed made some progress, but there was still a lot of room for improvement.

Unfortunately she had been a bit too reluctant to use them yesterday, in fear of making herself look like a fool. It would have been a disaster if she made a mistake and ended up embarrassing herself in front of the goddess and her mortal pet. Given the fact that she was also the Daimakaicho at that moment, it would have been a most humiliating sight, one that she just couldn't afford to offer to the fist class goddess. In retrospect, if she didn't hold back that cheeky mortal wouldn't be laughing nearly as much once he was sent flying off into the dark abyss of the throne room.

Making Urd into a demoness to compensate for her own weaknesses, in hindsight, was the much better plan. Although, from what she heard from Ehwaz and Mokkurkalfi, that already happened and the results were not pretty to say the least. Then again they hadn't trying to drain the half-goddess' energy, so she still had a lot to spare in her confused state. If she had none during that phase, maybe they could've stabilized her, before she went berserk. But she resented Urd and had decided to pass her by in favor of the middle Norn as a pawn. It made her angry that Urd disregarded her mother's affections for the sake of appeasing the very people that treated her like a nuisance.

But instead of all that, she ended up becoming a living statue, once Hild-sama took control of her body and just left her frozen. Seeing the mortal and his goddess girlfriend go through all those stupid flowers, that filled the path to the throne, in hopes to find the latter's angel egg was just too much. In a last ditch effort to stop Hagall from hurting Keiichi, the goddess tried to use her angel, only to have her forcefully removed instead. With Belldandy in such a weakened state, Hagall had hoped that this would certainly render her totally helpless. So they had to find it by searching everything, and that was more that she could stomach, no matter how funny it may have been.

'Who the bloody Heavens keeps calling her boyfriend Keiichi-_san_, after all those years they've been living together?' wondered the annoyed demoness. Even after she got the egg back and the goddess was reunited with her angel, they simply stood there, holding hands and smiling at each other. 'What was up with those kindergarten style interactions? Seriously... Was the test even necessary for them? Do the gods really consider _that_ a relationship? I'm so happy I wasn't born a goddess...'

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her personal communicator. Placing her gloved hand next to her ear, the blonde decided to see what was the matter. "Hagall here."

"Oh, hi there, Hagall-chan. We may have a bit of an issue here, so could you summon a powerful demon and come in the throne room?" said the voice of her boss.

"_We?" _asked the puzzled demoness, trying to figure out who the Daimakaicho would be talking about. "Wait a second... Hild-sama, is that goddess still with you?"

"Ansuz? Yes, she's quietly fuming right next to me."

'Fuming? And why does she need a powerful demon along with me?' wondered Niflheim's second in command. "Hild-sama, is she giving you trouble?"

"Who, Ansuz? She's a problem all by herself, but nothing I can't handle on my own... Hey!...Bite me, you feather brain!"said Hild, quickly adding, "sorry, that last bit wasn't for you, Hagall-chan. So come quickly, OK? I'm waiting. Ta ta!"

And with that, Hagall was lost in thought, trying to understand just what was going on over there. If those two haven't gotten into a fight, something that Hagall feared that might happen considering how they acted, then what was the reason for the call? Plus, what did Hild-sama mean by powerful? If it was just physical strength, then Thrym would have been ideal, but on the other hand she was not good with spells. Come to think about it, most of the members of her group had their own areas of expertise, but none of them was a jack of all trades. She could bring everyone there, but at the same time those weren't her orders. Not wanting to waste any more time, she decided to just rely on one their fighting specialists. Hitting a few keys on her personal terminal, she headed for her office's door, hoping that the demon she summoned wasn't going to be late from the realm his unit was stationed in.

With the door closing behind her, the demoness started to fly towards Niflheim's throne room.

XXX

Peorth sat, or rather hovered, happily humming a tune as she watched TV in the temple's living room. The news from Asgard had been great indeed, since she was allowed to stay on Earth for a while. She had no doubt that everyone up there were really busy with post processing the event that had occurred yesterday. Just handling the Gate's strike was a lot of work and she shuddered to imagine how much trouble this rebellion would be to deal with. Every single sector in Asgard was probably going to have to submit a report, then have all those checked and make the necessary corrections, then make a presentation, offer comments, evaluate the responses of her subordinates and finally submit her own report as a system administrator. Fun stuff.

But not today, not her. Since she responded to the emergency alongside with Lind, she was a field operator at that point, not an administrator and thus a lot of that burden was off her shoulders. Her report was going to be a pretty standard one, not much of a pain to deal with. Plus, by the looks of it, she earned a mini vacation as well. As such, she was ecstatic, although it was also due to the fact that she was going to spend time with her friends. Her angel may have gotten it right after all.

"What do you think you're doing?"

Turning around to look at the owner of the voice, she spotted Lind who was currently staring at her with her arms crossed.

"Is there something wrong, Lind?"

"Keiichi's sister is right outside, so why in Heaven's name are you hovering like that? Don't you realize just how much trouble this is going to cause for Keiichi-kun if she happens to run into you, while you're floating in the air?"

"Oh, I didn't know that you met her," said Peorth as she tried to change the subject, even though she set her feet on the ground, just to be on the safe side.

"Actually, I didn't," said the Valkyrie. "I merely heard Laguz talking with somebody and decided to investigate. I'm positive that she never noticed me. Which brings me back to you. I need advice."

That last statement got the brunette's attention. "Advice? What for?"

"I'm fully aware that my current attire is not fit for properly interacting with mortals," said Lind as she looked at her combat uniform for a moment before going on. "Considering that you have spent some time on Earth recently, I would like your recommendation on what to wear in front of mortals."

Peorth couldn't help but wonder if she was hearing things. Did the combat specialist really just ask her for fashion tips? This was going to be interesting, but before that... "Are you certain you want _my_ opinion? You seemed to disapprove of my style not too long ago. Something about embarrassing looks, if my memory serves me right."

"Asking the others wasn't an available option. Belldandy and Keiichi-kun are busy in the kitchen, Urd and Skuld are working on their own projects and Laguz has the same experience with the mortal's current fashion trends as me. Therefore, you seemed to be the only other viable source of information that I have at my disposal at the moment."

The goddess of the roses felt a bit of annoyance as it appeared that she was the last in the Valkyrie's list, even after Skuld, but decided that it wouldn't be very productive to turn this into an argument. Instead, looking at the goddess in front of her, she tried to imagine what kind of outfit could possibly match Lind's personality, only to realize that she actually didn't know all that much about the warrior. She had never really seen her in anything other than her standard issue battle uniform, or her official combat wings dresses, but neither of those were tailored to the individual Valkyrie's tastes. Also, Lind was the type of goddess that was never really trying to stand out very much. As a matter of fact, she had spent most of her time in an effort to blend in with the rest, a task that had proven to be more challenging than anticipated, given that she possessed a pair of twin angels, but not the ability to properly use both of them at first. That left her with only one wing as she couldn't utilize both her angels at the same time, a fact that draw a lot of negative attention from the others.

"OK," she said after a while, "let's try something and see how this works with you." Closing her eyes, she tried to visualize an outfit that the blue haired goddess might appreciate. Without delay, the combat uniform started to glow and shift from its familiar form, into the configuration that Peorth had in her mind.

Opening her eyes, she took a moment to inspect her handiwork. Lind was wearing a pair of form fitting white jeans and a simple blue tube top. Perhaps, she may have gotten a bit too far with her choice of clothes, and expected the Valkyrie to flat out refuse them.

"Well? What do you think?" she decided to ask despite her own reservations. 'Here it comes...'

Looking at herself, the Valkyrie had an almost unreadable expression on her face, something that just made Peorth even more nervous. However, she eventually merely shrugged at the goddess of the roses. "That will have to do, I suppose..."

"Eh?! Really?" asked a slightly surprised Peorth, that was half expecting a negative reaction and was already trying to come up with another look for her.

"Yes, I don't see anything particularly wrong with them. They're not restricting my movements, so I like that," said Lind, before she turned and headed to the hallway. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll go and see if they need any additional help in the kitchen."

However, as she was about to leave the room, the Valkyrie did remember to give the other goddess a tiny smile, something that greatly pleased Peorth and caused her to respond in a similar manner. It was very different from the last time that she was here, during the Angel Eater incident. Back then, when she tried to praise Keiichi's and Skuld's efforts to come with a viable plan, they both didn't seem very happy about it. Belldandy was right after all. Saying it with a smile was all the difference.

With that, Lind left Peorth alone in the room, hoping to find something useful to do with her free time.

XXX

As the Mercedes pulled right next to the temple's entrance, the scheming bespectacled man decided to go through the details of his plan once again, just to be sure that his cousin didn't mess anything up.

"Remember to leave the listening devices inside the house, Sayoko. Just try to do that when they aren't looking, you know, under the table or another piece of furniture."

'Like they have much furniture,' thought Sayoko, but instead decided to remain silent, in hopes to avoid any more of Aoshima's ramblings. He wasn't the most pleasant of passengers to have in her car, as he didn't know when to shut up, going over what he had already told her a hundred times before, again and again. "Stop worrying so much, Toshiyuki, and just give me those things."

"Oh, sorry," he said in a not so apologetic voice. "Here you go."

Storing the small items inside her bag, she took out a small makeup kit and inspected herself, just in case there was something wrong. Once she was certain that her appearance was perfect, she opened her door and got out of the car, pausing only for a second to remind her cousin of his role "You stay here and monitor the situation, OK?"

"No worries, Sayoko," said Aoshima, as he pulled a device that resembled a hand held transceiver. "With this, I'll be able to listen to everything that's going on in there, almost as if I was there. Especially once you leave and they think that they are alone. Plus, I have that recorder that goes with it, in order to capture it on tape. We'll just leave that hidden next to the temple's walls and tomorrow, we'll come and see what we've got."

"Fine. I'm going," said Sayoko. "Make sure you do the rest."

And with that, the heiress of the Mishima group started to walk towards the stairs, as her cousin picked up the rest of the stuff and headed towards the forest that was right next to the temple's perimeter.

XXX

"Oh dear..."

"Is there something wrong, Belldandy?" asked Keiichi as he looked over at his wife, who at the moment was in front of the fridge.

"I'm afraid that we're about to run out of food, Keiichi," she said as she stared at the nearly empty shelves in front of her. "The party yesterday and today's breakfast must have used most of it. I was hoping that we were going to get the chance to go shopping, but I don't know how much time we still have until they arrive. So, while I use what little we still have, do you mind going out to buy a few things?"

"No problem Belldandy. I'll be back in a bit," said Keiichi, only to be interrupted by someone knocking the kitchen's door, before she entered, causing him to take a step back as he stared at the sight in front of him.

"Sorry to intrude, but I wondered if I could offer you any assistance," said Lind as she stepped inside, noticing the look that Keiichi was giving her, or rather, her clothes. "Oh, these? I asked Peorth to help me pick out a more casual look in order to fit in the mortal realm better."

'Figures. Then again, given that it was Peorth, it's a bit tame. I can't imagine Lind wearing something that Peorth would,' thought Keiichi. "It's fine, right, Belldandy?" he said out loud.

"Oh! It certainly is," said Belldandy with a bright smile.

"So," started Lind, "is there anything for me to do?"

Sharing a look between them, the couple was not certain as to how to respond. It was unlikely that the Valkyrie had a lot experience with cooking, so letting her try her luck there was not going to be very productive. So after a few moments of silence, Keiichi decided to offer a better solution. "I'm going out shopping. Do you want to come with me? I'm sure that an extra pair of hands can be a great help."

"Of course! Lead the way."

XXX

Sayoko stopped briefly at the main temple, leaving a few bills as an offering. Perhaps that could help with her horrible luck that plagued her lately. After all that weirdness from yesterday, she was now stuck in a situation that part of her wanted to avoid. On one hand she really wanted to figure out what happened between Keiichi and Belldandy, but at the same there was something that bothered her. While she did say that Belldandy's popularity was going to disappear now that she was married, it certainly didn't feel like the victory that Sayoko was looking for. Instead it almost looked like she was defeated from a certain point of view. While she always craved attention, most of the men that flocked around her were just pathetic in her opinion and hardly worth her time. Ironically, the only one so far that wasn't a complete loser, was the very same one that Belldandy had set her eyes on. So from that particular perspective, Sayoko was the one that lost and not Belldandy, a fact that she wasn't terribly happy about.

Like that moron Aoshima, Sayoko found that she too was drawn to those who seemed to ignore her. Keiichi had tried, once upon a time, of course but those days were long gone Too bad she completely shot him down, laughing at the Keiichi's attempt to take her to a museum, of all places. It wasn't until Belldandy got into the picture that she took a second glance at the man who managed to date that pretty foreigner. Perhaps in a sense she was a bit like her cousin, as she wanted what she couldn't have. But Sayoko refused to become an obsessed sore loser like him. Despite that, she was going to honor her promise and leave the spying devices in the house. Of course, she never said anything about their batteries. Dropping the small power cells next to the bills she left as an offering, she decided that she had to deal with this sooner than later, before Aoshima decided to see why she was taking so long.

Walking towards the house that stood right the temple, she could hear two women talking in the distance. She could recognize one of them as Keiichi's younger sister, Megumi, but failed to identify the other one. At any rate, that seemed unimportant right now, as her primary target was the couple and not their family and friends. Without any delay she headed straight for the front door and rang the doorbell.

XXX

Keiichi was tying his shoelaces with Lind standing right behind him. He really hoped that the shopping trip was going to be an uneventful one. All they had to do is go to the grocery stores in Nekomi and pick the items that his wife had requested. The young mechanic couldn't help but smile at that last thought. He and Belldandy were now officially a couple, at least according to Heaven.

"What's so amusing?" asked Lind, noticing his expression.

"Oh, nothing. I just remembered something," he said, trying to hide a small blush from his previous thoughts. Finally, after a few seconds, he was all ready. "Sorry for the delay. Do you have the list?"

"Yes, it's in my right pocket."

"Good. So let's go," said Keiichi. The weather was great, he just had a great breakfast, his wife was preparing for his parents' arrival and he even had somebody to help him with the shopping. So what could possibly go wrong?

The doorbell rang.

Staring at each other for a moment, they both wondered who it was this time. Megumi was already here, that didn't leave many on the list of likely visitors. At least not this early in the morning, especially not after the last night's party.

'Don't tell me that it's Takano and Keima... We're not ready for them yet,' thought Keiichi. As he hesitated to open the door, Lind decided to simply get it over with and see who it was.

Sliding the door open, she came face to face with a brunette in an expensive looking black dress with a red coat over it. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for..." she started, before she noticed Keiichi right behind the unfamiliar blue haired woman. "Oh! There you are, Keiichi."

"Sayoko?!" asked the somewhat startled man, not expecting her at all. 'Why did she decide to drop in all of a sudden?'

"I'm sorry for the sudden visit. May I come in?" asked Sayoko, as she tried to sound as pleasant as she possibly could.

"Sure thing, Sayoko," said Keiichi who didn't want to sound rude, even though it was a bad moment.

Seeing that Keiichi knew the woman, Lind stepped aside and allowed Sayoko to come into the house.

XXX

Moments later, Sayoko was sitting in the living room with Keiichi, waiting for Belldandy to join them. The woman that had been watching TV had offered to go and inform Belldandy that they had a visitor.

That really startled Sayoko, first a blue haired woman answered the door and now another one was sitting in the living room, dressed in the most skimpy thing that she had ever seen. Just what was going on here? She hadn't visited the temple for quite some time, but that was beyond what she had expected. At least with the other brunette gone and the other one that Keiichi called Lind, still in the hallway, she was alone with the man. Perhaps it was the best opportunity to drop those stupid things under the table, before Belldandy entered the room.

"So, Keiichi... I heard that you've finally tied the knot," said Sayoko as she tried to start a conversation.

"Well... I know, right? I mean, it happened a bit too suddenly and everyone was very surprised and all," said the man as he nervously scratched the back of his head, trying to come up with something that Sayoko might buy. It was going to be more difficult to convince her, more so than the others from the Motor Club or Chihiro. He was certain that Megumi didn't believe him, but it was unlikely that his sister was going to give him trouble. Sayoko was a totally different issue.

"I must admit that I thought that it was just a rumor. You know how those students come up with all sorts of crazy stuff at times," said Sayoko, avoiding to mention just who it had been who'd provided her with the information. Just bringing up Aoshima's name at all was bound to make Keiichi suspicious.

"That's true! Ha ha..." laughed Keiichi, hoping to change the topic.

"Still I must say that it was a bit unexpected. Nobody seemed to know it was even happening, let alone get an invitation for the ceremony," said Sayoko as she pressed on for details.

Keiichi was already starting to sweat and even worse Belldandy wasn't there to help him. The rich woman certainly wouldn't give up as easily as the rest had. "Well, it was mostly because of Belldandy's parents," said Keiichi shakily. "They were the ones who wanted us to get married in the first place." He paused, wincing. "That...ah, sounded bad. But it's a tradition where Belldandy's from; parents gotta bless the couple. Problem is is that they don't give you a lot of time to organize it all. You don't even want to see our budget..." Keiichi grumbled under his breath. As much as he'd liked seeing his friends, his wallet sure hadn't.

Keiichi wasn't a good liar and even if part of it was true, he really wished that his nervousness wasn't going to give him away. Worse, he honestly hoped that blaming his in-laws wasn't going to come back and bite him. Who knew if Tyr was monitoring him? After all, he did know about his parents' whereabouts.

"Ah, I see," said Sayoko, starting to understand what he was getting at. "So they heard that you two were living together under the same roof for years and decided to step in. Wouldn't want to be in your position to be totally honest. However if it was a money issue, you could have just told me Keiichi. I could have sponsored your wedding, you know..."

Keiichi was really happy that she seemed to have accepted the explanation, despite the fact that it was completely fake. He was a bit surprised about the last part, although it was simply easy for her to just say this right now, after the whole thing was over. Or did she really mean it? Then again, it may have been an attempt to just make fun of them for not having enough money. Regardless, all that was mere speculation, and he wouldn't get anything out of it. "Thank you for the offer, Sayoko, but I guess it was better this way I think. It wouldn't be great to start a new life while asking for others to cover my expenses."

"If you say so. But tell me what are you planning for now?" asked Sayoko. "You know, for the honeymoon."

"Honeymoon?" wondered Keiichi out loud. That was indeed a good question. With everything that happened, plus the news of his parents' imminent arrival, he hadn't given the issue too much thought. On top of that, he doubted that Chihiro was going to give him such an extended paid leave. Not because she was stingy or anything, but she didn't have any real help aside from him and Belldandy. His sempais had proven to not be the best alternatives, as Tamiya and Otaki often went too far with their antics.

"Judging by that look on your face, I guess you haven't planned anything or even thought much about it," said Sayoko. "In that case, I have something for you." Opening her handbag, she pulled out an envelope and offered it to Keiichi. "Let's say that this is my gift for your wedding. I won't take no for an answer. Besides I have no need for a pair of tickets."

"T-thank you," said the surprised man who was half expecting this to be a prank. Still, opening the envelope, he could see two first class air tickets, but decided to close it and leave that for later. It wasn't going to be very polite to spend too much time examining the gift and ignore the one that offered it. "That was very thoughtful of you, Sayoko."

"Don't worry about it."

XXX

Belldandy was finally out of the kitchen, carrying a tray that had a teapot, as well as a few cups. She had to switch from her preparations to making tea for her guest. Normally the goddess of the present would be delighted to have someone drop by for a visit, but in this particular case she was worried. The shopping trip was delayed and that could be a problem.

Almost as if she read her mind, the Valkyrie that was waiting in the hallway, approached her. "This is going to take long, I assume."

"I would suppose so, Lind," said Belldandy as she tried to consider any alternatives. "I know! We could ask Megumi to go pick up everything for us."

"I can still do it," objected Lind as she wasn't a goddess that easily gave up. "Let me go and buy the supplies you need."

"I don't know about it Lind," said Belldandy as she tried to talk the other goddess out of it. "It would be inconvenient to bring everything here without having to fly. Too many people that live here could see you by accident."

"I can drive vehicles," insisted the Valkyrie, refusing to take no as an answer.

After some thought, Belldandy remembered her bicycle that she used occasionally to go shopping herself. "In that case, please take the bike we have parked at the back of the house. Also, take this money with you as well."

Handing her some of her money, that she earned from working for Chihiro, Belldandy watched the Valkyrie pocket them carefully, as she went for the door. "I'll be back soon."

"Take care, Lind!"

"I will."

XXX

Aoshima was really frustrated. After trying every channel and configuration there was in the manual of the darn receiver in front of him, he couldn't hear a thing. Was he too far away, or did something interfere? At any rate he had to do something as Sayoko was already inside the house for a few minutes and he still had no clue how to fix the problem. His plan was falling apart and he hated every single bit of it. He briefly toyed with the idea of calling his cousin and asking her what was wrong, but that was too risky. The only thing that he could see was Keiichi's sister and a blonde lady walking around the house, heading slowly for the front door. Beyond that nothing at all.

Throwing the useless receiver on the ground, he realized that he had to resort to his plan B, the directional long range microphone, ideal for listening to people's conversations from afar. Trying to get as close as possible, without being seen, he wore the microphone's headpieces, as he pointed the device towards the house. Finally, he could hear what was happening.

"_Hey Kei-chan, we're back! Have you called... Oh, you have company..."_

"_Yeah... Want some tea, Belldandy certainly made enough for all of us."_

_"Sure thing!"_

XXX

Lind had walked around the house and found herself in front of the shed that Keiichi parked his BMW. She did take her time to inspect the machine as to make sure that she remembered all the details of using human made vehicles from her Valkyrie training, before she decided to be on her way. As she got on the bike though, she realized that she hadn't asked for the key to the vehicle, but that one was also covered in the training as well. All she needed to do is locate the power line that headed to the ignition.

'Let me see... This is the battery, so it goes from here to there, and then down there, all the way... I found it!' thought Lind with a triumphant smile on her face. 'Now, I must send an electric pulse through the cable and kick that metal down there...'

The BMW's engine roared to life, an indication that she had followed the procedure correctly. Pleased that she didn't have to bother Keiichi or Belldandy, the Valkyrie started to head for the road.

XXX

Meanwhile, Keiichi who was currently having his sister and Laguz join in for a cup of tea, heard the familiar sound of his bike's engine starting up. Puzzled, he turned to his wife, who was wearing an equally confused expression. "Belldandy?"

"Lind offered to go shopping, Keiichi."

"Who?" asked a puzzled Megumi "We were just over there and didn't see anyone..."

"She's another friend of ours," said Laguz as she tried to explain. "She must have circled the house from the other side, so we missed each other."

"That's not important!" almost yelled Keiichi who was struggling to remain calm. "Why is she taking my bike?"

"Oh dear!" said Belldandy. "I told her to take the bike that was parked behind the house, but I actually meant my bicycle. She may have misunderstood that and thought I was talking about the motor bike, instead. But don't worry about it, Keiichi. She won't damage it, I'm sure of it."

"That's not the point, Belldandy! Lind doesn't have a driver's license," said Keiichi, who at this point was clearly panicked. "Megumi! I need your KSR!"

"Hold on, Kei-chan! I'm coming with you as well."

"Oh dear..." said Belldandy once more.

XXX

The unfolding drama didn't interest the man at all. Where were the juicy details he needed? Who cared about some stupid bike? At least with the idiot gone, Sayoko could fish secrets out from Belldandy.

In the meanwhile, a black cat was walking nearby as he was trying to get back inside after his encounter with Skuld's missiles. Welsper couldn't help but notice the man who was clearly spying on the residents of the temple. Curiosity being part of a cat's psyche, he approached and stood right in front of the microphone. As the man didn't seem to notice him, he decided to announce himself. "Meow!"

Aoshima almost screamed as he tried to take the headphones off, since the directional microphone was greatly amplifying the sound. However, considering that this time the source of the sound was right in front of him and not nearly as far away as previously, the end result was a deafening roar.

"Stupid cat!" he shouted. "Where did you come from!" And with no further delay, he grabbed the black cat and tossed him in a nearby bush. "That's going to teach you a lesson."

Welsper had finally had enough. He had been trampled by the Moo Moo squad, used as a witness for Belldandy's wedding, blown sky high by flowers, fallen into water and then blown up again by missiles. Now this lowlife of a human decided to simply toss him aside. Enough was enough! He was a cat, but also a demon.

"MEOOORRRR!" shouting as loud as he could, he launched in the air, exposing his claws and ready to do some serious damage.

This one was for glory.

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

I would also want to point out a few things, in order to avoid some confusion. The reason why I use the term 'digital mail' instead of the more familiar 'email' is due to the fact that the demons, like the gods, use a mix of both technology and magic. Therefore calling them electronic mail may have been incorrect. Maybe I'll call them d-mail in the future for short.

Also the Tariki Hongan temple has two buildings. One is the temple itself ans the other is the monk's house. Keiichi is currently living in the latter, but there may be some confusion since the house is also inside temple grounds. So when I mention Sayoko going from the temple to the house next to it, I mean that she goes from the main temple to Keiichi's house. Both of them are inside the same area though.


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

The green KSR raced down the Nekomi Ridge, trying to catch up with the BMW, but to no avail. Despite the fact that the latter had a sidecar attached, the former was currently carrying two passangers, which made it heavier than normal. Even the driving skills of Megumi Morisato, who had memorized the entire road that hugged the mountainside next to the city, couldn't possibly save them. In fact in the past, she had accidentally challenged a racer that fancied herself as the Queen of the Ridge and ended up earning the title for herself, a fact that didn't particularly pleased her. Due to that incident, her popularity skyrocketed within certain racing circles. Many other motor bike enthusiasts tried to best her, in hopes to get that title, but nobody ever managed to succeed. Yet, she couldn't catch up to this woman that was driving her brother's beloved bike. Whoever that Lind character was, she must have been quite skilled.

'Hold it,' she suddenly thought, as she realized a very important detail. "Kei-chan, when you said that she doesn't have a driver's license, you meant a Japanese one, right?"

"No, I meant exactly what I said, Megumi," said her brother in a very serious voice. "She doesn't have any kind of driver's license that I'm aware of." Keiichi just knew that Lind probably drew information from Yggdrasil in order to use his bike, but his primary concern were the law officers. If they happened to stop her, especially considering that she most likely wasn't wearing a helmet, it would turn into a bad situation.

Megumi on the other hand had gotten even more worried, as she wasn't aware of that last bit of information that her brother kept for himself. As such, she was horrified at the idea that they were struggling to catch up with someone that probably had no idea of what she was doing. In most cases these incidents tended to have a bad ending, especially at the current situation. "Is she going to be fine?"

"No worries, Megumi. She's tough as nails." Although in reality Keiichi doubted that there were nails nearly as hard as that particular Valkyrie.

XXX

Sayoko remained almost silent while she took a few sips from her teacup. Belldandy was really gifted at turning such a deceptively simple beverage into something that was certainly enjoyable. In fact she was certain that the married woman was just as good as some professionals from the various tea houses that she visited occasionally. Yet that didn't explain the complete lack of concern that the others showed at the current situation. Keiichi had just rushed out of the room, chasing after someone that was most likely driving his bike recklessly and despite that, nobody seemed to worry. Especially Belldandy. Did she trust her husband so much that she was certain that he was going to be just fine? Many accidents happened around the cliff sides of Nekomi, as drivers sometimes could make the slightest mistake and find themselves falling right off the road. Sure, he had won several races for the Motor Club in the past, but that didn't mean he was invulnerable.

Speaking of oddities, the other two women that were currently enjoying Belldandy's tea were certainly quite the sight. One was dressed in some ornate, exotic type of dress, while the other was hardly wearing clothes, at least nothing that Sayoko would consider as such. The mysterious leather garments around the brunette seemed to serve no apparent purpose, other than being a fashion statement. That woman troubled her for some reason. In an effort to get back at Belldandy, Sayoko had unsuccessfully tried to tempt Keiichi a few times in the past. While always she thought that she didn't go far enough for the young mechanic to give in, this Peorth lady was solid proof that her own efforts wouldn't have ever worked. If an attractive woman strolled around in such an attire and Keiichi remained loyal, then she never stood a chance in the first place. It would have been easy to just assume that the man really had no guts, something that even his friends even teased him about, yet he managed to marry the most popular girl at NIT.

"So, Belldandy," said Sayoko after a while in an effort to get some extra information, "I heard that your parents were behind your marriage."

"That's correct," said Belldandy. "Once father thought Keiichi worthy, mother gave us a proper blessing to wed."

"But I was under the impression that they had no involvement with the ceremony." Keiichi had told her so.

"The didn't organize it, only gave their permission." It was the truth after all, even if some details were left out. Belldandy never liked how Keiichi went so far in his attempts to hide the fact that she was a goddess, but in this case she decided to stick to the censored version of the events. As a first class goddess she wouldn't say a lie no matter what, but as long as they didn't ask her anything about her divinity directly, she could just avoid the subject. There were many occasions where she tried to tell others the truth, but Keiichi and her sisters had always stopped her.

"I see..." started Sayoko, only to be interrupted by a scream that came from the forest's direction. There was only one person that the voice could have belonged to, and that was her cousin. Did he fall down from a tree or something? She had no desire to let them realize that she brought him along, since he was always too antagonistic with Keiichi. If that happened, she would no longer be welcome to the temple and as strange as it may sound, she didn't want that. Losing to Belldandy was one thing, but becoming a loser like him was not an option.

Pretending that she heard nothing, Sayoko, checked her watch. "Oh goodness, time really flies so fast. I have a very important appointment in an hour, so I must be going. Thank you for the tea, Belldandy."

"The pleasure is mine, Sayoko," the goddess said in a very sincere voice as she offered her guest a bright smile. "Please come by any time you want."

The rich woman really doubted that, but at least it was nice to be welcome. Plus, Belldandy's smile seemed to be contagious, something that probably boosted her popularity. "Thank you, I will," she finally said as she started to walk towards the door.

XXX

Lind was pleased with how fast she had reached her destination. Her ability to fly had proven to be invaluable, despite the fact that she was driving a bike. The road was full of curves and going too fast would normally throw someone off course as the sheer momentum would prevent them from turning. By utilizing the same basic principles of gravity manipulation that goddesses used during flight, she could apply enough force in the opposite direction and keep the BMW on the tarmac while maintaining the bike's top speed. That was simply beyond what any human driver could achieve, no matter how skilled they were.

Finding a spot to park the bike had proven to be a bit difficult, as well as a problem she had never encountered in Asgard. Up there it was much easier to store one's travel medium, if they so wished to use one that is. Over here though it had proven to be anything but trivial, especially considering the extra space needed for the sidecar. A couple of minutes later she decided to park a bit further away from the shopping district, since there were more available spots there. The only downside was that she had to walk for a bit longer, but that wasn't a problem by any means for a goddess, not to mention a Valkyrie.

Now the real difficulty was that the shopping list was meant for Keiichi, who obviously knew where to go in order to buy everything. Lind, on the other hand, didn't have a single a clue as to where to start, but decided to simply observe the other pedestrians that carried shopping bags and head towards the direction they came from. Without any further delay, she started walking while taking a brief look at the list, this was going to take only a few minutes.

XXX

Sayoko was really annoyed. First she had to leave because of that stupid Aoshima and now she had to find him. She just wasted her perfect opportunity to get more secrets from Belldandy and before she accomplished her goal, he had to cause a big commotion. It was a miracle that the others didn't react to the noise or her cover would've been blown. But the worst part was that her cousin wasn't waiting back at the car, so she was forced to go look for him, something that was easier said than done, considering that her shoes weren't meant for trekking in the woods. Thankfully, however, he couldn't have gone too far. Most likely he was hiding right next to the temple's perimeter wall.

Indeed, not a minute later, she found the annoying man lying on the ground with his clothes nearly torn apart and scratches all over his body. Nothing particularly serious, but the sheer number of them only meant that he took quite the beating. "Toshiyuki?! What's going on here?"

"D-demon..." he stammered, as he tried to get up but failed miserably.

"Get a hold of yourself! Take a deep breath and tell me what happened," said Sayoko who was starting to get worried about her own safety as well. By the looks of it, some wild animal must have attacked him, but as far as she was aware of, there were no dangerous wildlife near Nekomi. Quite probably nothing like that at all.

"A-a c-cat..." he tried again, as he finally managed to get into a sitting position.

"A cat?! Are you serious?" asked a surprised Sayoko. 'Just who gets beaten by a cat? Maybe a scratch or two, but this is ridiculous. '

"Yes," managed the man as he fought back a cough. "She ambushed me and did this to me. It was a demon, I tell you. A monster! I haven't seen anything as vicious like that before."

Sayoko had had it. "I just started to get Belldandy in a corner and you managed to get beaten by a cat, of all things?! Do you even call yourself a man, Toshiyuki? I mean you always are trying to get Belldandy for yourself, but what do you think she would say if she saw this?"

As much as Aoshima wanted to say something back at his cousin, he realized that it would be pointless. The sad reality was that he had experienced something that most others wouldn't easily believe. Insisting any further would only work against him, by making him look like a loser. Well, more than he currently did anyway. Trying to avoid any more ridicule, he started limping towards the car, while his cousin followed behind him.

Hidden in the bushes, Welsper could hardly contain his laughter. That mortal's misery had finally offered him the break he needed. Of course, it was by no means enough to completely negate all the misfortune he had gone through, but it was a step in the right direction. Perhaps, after all that full course of misery, he could get some dessert as well. The neighbor's mackerel was always very tasty, so stealing some would get him not only a morale boost, but a free meal as well. With that in mind, the cat headed for the houses in the distance.

XXX

Finding his BMW was proving to be more difficult than what Keiichi had expected. As the Queen of the Ridge, Megumi knew a lot of other bikers and hoped that one of them might have noticed it. A sidecar was a rare thing to have these days, so he had hoped that it was going to easy to stand out. At least they tried. In retrospect, maybe he should have asked the other goddesses for help, as they could have located Lind in seconds. But instead, he just had to panic and rush into things. Even worse, his sister was with him, making it difficult to change plans now. It wasn't going to be easy to simply tell Megumi to go home and forget about it, in order to call a goddess to take her place in the search. To further complicate matters, he had no idea how far his parents were from Nekomi, as his father-in-law didn't provide that crucial bit of information. There was a huge difference between several hours and several minutes. In the first case there was no issue, as Belldandy could certainly manage to prepare a feast in that amount of time, but if it was a matter of minutes, then his only chance to properly welcome them was already gone.

Realizing that delaying the inevitable was pointless, he just decided to ask for help. "Hey, Megumi, can you stop by that phone booth? I need to make a call."

"What for, Kei-chan?" asked his sister. She had already exhausted her list of useful contacts, so calling for more help was unlikely to bring any better results.

"Just trust me on this one," Keiichi said. Getting a nod as an answer, Megumi did as she was told, hoping that her brother has come up with some useful idea, as they were currently just wasting time without any results.

Getting into the phone booth, he reached for a coin as he dialed the temple's number.

"Hello, Morisato residence," said the cheerful voice of his wife.

"Belldandy, it's me. Look, I wondered..." Keiichi started to say, before he paused for a second. "Is Sayoko still there?"

"Actually, she left some time ago. Did you want her, Keiichi?" asked Belldandy, trying to figure out why her husband asked that. 'Perhaps he forgot to ask her something?'

"No," said Keiichi, while looking cautiously over his shoulder to make sure that his sister was still on her bike and not close enough to hear him. "Can you find Lind? What I mean is, to locate her with your powers. We didn't have any luck so far, and I'm worried that we may be wasting our time."

"Sadly I cannot, Keiichi," said Belldandy as she tried to explain the situation. "I need to make a proper search mandala in order to find her, or to be more precise the bike itself. Asking Yggdrasil directly will yeld nothing as much information about those in the Fighting Wings is restricted from the rest of us. I'll ask Urd to give a hand in order to speed things up, so don't worry."

"I see..." was the only thing he could come up with. This wasn't what he wanted to hear, but at this moment, there was no other option really. "In that case please hurry, Belldandy. I can't wait in a payphone, so when you find her, can you contact me in any other way? Or alternatively, contact her instead?"

"That's not a problem, Keiichi. I'll go get Urd, so see you later!" And with that he turned back and headed to his sister who was still waiting for him on her KSR.

XXX

Meanwhile, in a different realm, a search of a very different nature was about to start.

Right outside Niflheim's throne room, a portal began to materialize, bathing the hall room in a wicked red light. Its single passenger rose out of the center of it, inspecting his surroundings for anything that could be considered a threat, before he emerged completely. The imposing bronze skinned figure in the black combat uniform, opened the message he had received no too long ago, giving it a second look. He was indeed in the right place, but aside from him, there seemed to be nobody here. Not even the demoness that summoned him.

'Great,' he thought as he rolled his amber eyes, 'just what I needed. First a pointless rebellion and now they drag me all the way from Muspelheim to play some game of hide and seek... Ugh, I don't have time for this nonsense.'

Indeed, Surt, commander of Muspelheim's guard was very busy during the coup, as protocol demanded that under any such event, the first priority was to ensure the safety of the realm. As such, the entire Fire Division of the Demonic Combat Sector had its whole personnel at a state of high alert. Those warriors, that were also known as the Eldjotnar, were considered to be among the best, considering all the dangers they had to go through on a daily basis.

Muspelheim was an unforgiving place where the weak had no hope to survive. It was geologically very active, as numerous volcanoes were constantly reshaping the landscape and also extremely arid, with vast deserts covering most of its surface. Ironically, the only thing that prevented it from becoming a searing inferno were the frequent volcanic eruptions that blocked some of the light it received from its binary suns, even if that meant a very volatile and constantly changing climate.

Still, the worst part was the creatures inhabiting the realm. While far less numerous compared to the other realms, the indigenous species of Muspelheim had evolved over the millennia into natural killers. Territorial, aggressive and ruthless, they were considered amongst the most dangerous one could encounter. Due to all that, very few were willing to go into that place and even fewer dared to call it home. Only a small number of demons were living there on a constant basis and most of them were in the Fire Division as Eldjotnar, with the remaining few others in supportive roles. Unlike their counterparts, the gods were their last concern, since they rarely bothered them. It was the natural dangers that kept them busy, and as such, most of the demons living there tended to be accustomed to a harsh, unforgiving life. However, as a result of all that, they tended to become very powerful themselves, with the best known example being the Daimakaicho herself, Hild.

Due to all that, the highest ranking Eldjotunn was also considered to be the leader of the realm, since there were too few civilian demons to justify another chain of command for them. Because of that, Surt was a very busy demon and the recent events just made his schedule far worse that normal. And now, on top of that, Hagall was nowhere to be seen. He had to create a direct access point to Niflheim in order to arrive as soon as possible, and from a different realm nonetheless. Did blondie lose herself in one of the malls the had here, or what? How long does it take to go from her office or wherever she was to the throne room? Those demons in the capital must have really comfortable lives. It's no wonder that Hild never visits them anymore. 'She must be spending her time stuffing herself with snacks while watching the mortal's lives. Pfft, reality TV.'

Still, he had no desire to appear in front of the Daimakaicho while looking like a sand rat. A quick self inspection was mandatory. The standard issue combat uniform he was wearing was exactly the same regardless of which unit he belonged to and consisted of the basic battle fatigues, a utility belt, reinforced gloves and finally a two piece cape. Only the color scheme was different, depending on the realm. While black was a popular color for demons, it was also a natural choice for anyone stationed on Muspelheim, since it was resembled basalt, a mineral that seemed to cover most of the mountainous regions of the realm. As such, the majority of the uniform sported that color, with the exception of the top part of the fatigues that were grey, in order to match the volcanic ashes. Unfortunately, some of that ash was currently covering his normally black boots. Since he apparently had time to spare, he did the obvious thing that every warrior in his place would. He summoned a brush, some shoe shine and got himself busy. Sometimes the old fashioned approach was better than some quick fix spells.

XXX

Analyzing the angel egg was proving to be a bigger challenge than the eldest of the Norns had originally anticipated. Whatever her mother did to that poor thing, it was nearly impossible to detect. At least as far as traces of demonic energies were concerned. There were signs of tampering, but for the most part, they seemed to be limiters. However, like in many other cases, appearances could be deceiving, so a lot more research was necessary. Unfortunately, though, she was beginning to run into problems, since she lacked both the equipment and even the first class license that was necessary for casting more intrusive scans. The first could be arranged, but the latter was going to be an issue, given the fact that she turned down the first class license she had been offered. That left her with few options since Lind lacked the experience and asking Belldandy was probably a bad idea. Her sister was a bit too caring at times and she worried that she may sympathize with the modified angel egg like she did with Blue Lance in the past. That time she refused to let go of the purified familiar, even though it was only going to turn back into an egg instead of dying. Despite her good intentions, she realized that she couldn't control it, causing a serious problem. In this case the situation was even worse. If the egg was deemed dangerous, the best option was to simply put it out of its misery, as detestable as it may sound, since sooner or later somebody may happen to use it.

Her troubled thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on her door. "Neesan, can I come in?"

"Give me a second to switch into something more suitable, Belldandy," lied Urd as she tried to buy some time in order to hide the egg, as well as all her instruments she used for running the tests.

"Did I pick a bad moment?" asked the goddess of the present, who was reluctant to get into too much detail, fearing that it may turn into an embarrassing topic.

"No," said Urd as she finally opened the door, letting her sister in. "I was just trying on some new lingerie for you."

"Eh?!" That was indeed the type of embarrassing topic that Belldandy was afraid of. Love lessons by her elder sister.

"Don't give me that, Belldandy! As a married woman, you know very well what I'm taking about so off with the innocent look." Smiling suggestively she leaned closer, until her face was right in front of her sister's. "S-e-x-y underwear." As Belldandy's face started to turn red, the mini Urds had already completed the task of hiding the last remaining bits of the equipment that their main body was using previously. Even more importantly, with the successful distraction, they had also relocated the egg from its temporary hiding place to a much more secure one. Although it was merely a lie, Urd briefly toyed with the idea of checking a few things she had in mind in hopes to help her sister for real this time. Who knows, despite her reluctance, Belldandy may even end up using her advice in the end.

"I-I actually wanted your help for something, Urd," said Belldandy in an effort to change the topic. "We need to find Lind."

'There she goes... trying to avoid the subject, as usual. Oh well, let's not push her too hard this time,' thought Urd as she decided to give her sister a break. "So what's that about Lind? I thought she was with you."

Taking a short breath, Belldandy gave her sister the brief version of what happened while she had been busy in her room. "And that's why I need your help. Two goddesses can certainly do this search much easier."

"You know, there's an even faster method. Skuld had a detection device that she used to find Keiichi, when he temporarily hosted Blue Lance," said Urd as she remembered the incident. "Let's go and ask her."

Offering a nod, Belldandy, followed her sister to Skuld's room.

XXX

When Hagall arrived at the throne room's entrance she was rather surprised to see a figure waiting for her. She was really expecting to be the first one to arrive, but this demon had apparently been here for several minutes, given the fact he was currently polishing his shoes as he sat on the floor. Walking right in front of him, she simply stood there expecting that like most others, he was going to snap into attention, as soon as he saw her. Instead he didn't seem to react much to her at all, keeping himself busy with his current task as if there was nothing wrong at all. Several awkward seconds passed, before Niflheim's number two decided that a more direct approach was necessary.

"Commander Surt, I assume." The demoness' tone was as intimidating as she could manage and similar to the one she had used during the time she was the Daimakaicho.

Looking up, he finally paid attention to the demoness. "That would be me." Getting up, he dismissed the cleaning supplies and straightened himself. "Demon first class unlimited, Surt, commander of the Eldjotnar, at your service."

Despite the seemingly polite tone, the demoness wasn't entirely sure about the commander's sincerity. Unlike others that were much more talented at the art of deception, this one really lacked the skills to totally sound as if he meant what he said. Well, she picked him based on his fighting skills, so his mannerisms could be ignored for now. "As you may already know, Hild-sama had requested for our assistance. While the nature of the problem is not currently known, I suppose we'll figure that out once we get in the throne room. Follow me, commander."

Surt simply did as he was being told, despite the fact that he rolled his eyes as soon as the blonde turned her back at him. What had their illustrious leader done this time? Hild may have been really competent but at the same time found herself in all types of silly predicaments. One would think that given her age, she would've finally grown up. Instead, Hild, was still the same troublemaker she used to be during her early life in Muspelheim.

As the double doors to the throne room slowly opened, they revealed a sight of complete and utter chaos, though not of the type that would be associated with an emergency. Board games of all types, bags of various snacks, several cups of tea, were still all over the room or rather the path that lead to the throne itself, since the rest was just a vast chasm. Given the fact that there was a pair of futons lying in the middle of all this mess, it looked like the party lasted all night.

"Did she have a god in here? The whole room reeks like... them." Indeed, Surt had no desire to be friends with any of the celestials. Little bunch of hypocrites, all of them. It was a shame that Hild thought otherwise. After the first time she fell for their lies, she should have learned her lesson, but then again there were two futons instead of one and that by itself meant a lot.

"Actually, a goddess named Ansuz," replied Hagall, a bit annoyed that this demon was prying into their Daimakaicho's private life. "They were still playing those games when I left yesterday."

'Ansuz... Isn't she? Oh great... The ex and the missus in the same room. What could possibly go wrong?' Pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, he tried a spell to locate them, and by the looks of it, they were all the way at the bottom of the Pit. "They're down there. Are you certain that they were just playing games? I don't see why something like that would require them to go in Niflheim's most dangerous area."

"I have asked Hild-sama, but she insisted that the goddess wasn't giving her trouble." Looking at the seemingly bottomless abyss below them, Hagall decided that there was only one way they would find out for certain. "Let's go down there to see what's the matter."

"Fine. Let's get this over with."

XXX

"Does this look right, Skuld-sama?"

Turning to her side, the young goddess stared at the roughly spherical item that Sigel was holding in her hands. "That's about right. Since you got the hang of it, you can help Noble Scarlet over there and assemble the next batch of Neo Skuld Bombs. In the meanwhile, I need to finish this one."

Trying to see what her mistress was referring to, the gynoid noticed that the bomb in question was tiny. "Skuld-sama, I mean no disrespect, but why is that small one so important? We're already making a lot of larger bombs."

"He he, that's no ordinary bomb! It's an anti-proton bomb," said Skuld with a lot of pride for one of her most devastating weapons in her arsenal. "This tiny puppy can blow up this entire planet, so don't look down on it."

Most people would be running at this point, not that it would make that much of a big difference given the firepower of the anti-proton bomb. Sigel on the other hand was excited. "How cool, Skuld-sama! Can I help you with that one too?"

Before the little goddess had the chance to reply, the voice of her beloved sister came from outside the room. "Skuld, are you busy?"

"Oneesama!" squealed the young goddess, throwing the door wide open. She must have finally remembered about her and maybe made her that ice cake in return for her help during the ceremony. Her hopes were proven false as she noticed that Belldandy wasn't carrying anything and even worse Urd was with her as well. "Um... what's going on?"

"Hey squirt, do you still have that contraption of yours that you used when we were searching for Keiichi?" asked the eldest of the Norns.

"It's a detector, not a contraption. Besides why do you even want it?" asked Skuld whose mood had already taken a nosedive.

It was Belldandy's time to step in and avoid any arguments. "Please, Skuld. We need to find Lind."

As weird as the request may have sounded to the goddess of the future, she wasn't one to say no to her beloved big sister. "Okay, I'll get it up and running in no time."

Indeed, in just a few seconds there seemed to be a dot on its screen, indicating the Valkyrie's current whereabouts.

"Okay, that's good enough, I guess," said Urd, as she created a mini version of herself in her extended palm. "I'll go and get her." And with that, the mini Urd started to fly towards Nekomi's direction, leaving her main body back.

"Um... You need anything else?" Skuld already knew the answer, but hoped to get Urd to leave, since she still had a lot of work to do.

"Yes, I need to keep an eye on the screen. Otherwise my other self will not find anything by the time she gets there," said as she took a seat in front of the device, earning an annoyed groan from Skuld.

"I know!" said the middle of the Norns. "I still have some tea left. Let me get some for you as well. At least we can all have something to drink while we wait."

XXX

"Remind me again why we're still waiting in this cavern?" Ansuz's patience was running out as she stared at the demoness that was currently leisurely hovering above the ground. Above them, was the opening that lead to the vertical shaft that lead all the way to the throne room.

"Do you know that your canards start to flap when you're angry?" was Hild's amused reply.

"Don't call them that! I'm not an aircraft, Hild. They're actually called winglets. Besides you haven't answered my question at all." The goddess took a second to observe their current surroundings. They seemed to be inside a cave system of some kind, deep underneath the surface of Niflheim. Huge stalactites and stalagmites were surrounding them, with several others already joined, forming huge columns that spanned all the way from the ceiling to the floor, a process that certainly took several thousands of years. It was very dark as well, since the only light sources were above them, inside the vertical shaft. The only other source of illumination was a bunch of crystals that seemed to glow on their own, although that was barely enough to make any real difference.

"But they still look really cute! Oh, I'm so jealous," said Hild, as she hovered closer to her friend, although a bit too much for the goddess' comfort. Especially given the fact that the demoness' chest was nearly in her face.

'I'm the one that needs to be jealous here,' thought Ansuz, as she tried to get some distance between herself and that particular region of Hild's body, while the latter poked her winglets. "Hey! Stop that! They're sensitive."

"I knew that you were ticklish!"

"I'm not..." started Ansuz, only to pause as she saw two figures descend from above. Following her gaze, Hild noticed Hagall and Surt that were currently approaching them.

"Oh hi there, Hagall-chan. I see that you picked Surt-kun for assistance," said Hild, as she smiled at her second in command, before she turned to the Eldjotnar. "It has been a while, Surt."

"Yes, Hild... sama."

Noticing the demon's slight delay to add the appropriate suffix in their leader's name, Hagall was tempted to give the commander a bit of her mind, but decided against it for now. Instead there were other matters that required more immediate attention. "Hild-sama, why did you call for us?"

"She," started Hild, pointing at Ansuz, "lost her axe, which in fact is also the Judgement Gate. We need to find it."

"Eh? Why do we have to do that?" asked a puzzled Hagall.

"Because it's not in this area," replied Hild as she waved around with her hand. "One of the denizens of this underground cave complex must have taken it, as soon as it fell. They rarely approach this area, normally preferring the caves that are much deeper in, but at the same time, it's not every day that something falls from above."

"If that's the case, why don't you go tell them to give it back?" asked Ansuz. "You're supposed to be the Daimakaicho."

"I am indeed, but those serpents are outside of my jurisdiction. There is only one being that they actually obey and that is none other than the Infernal Dragon itself."

"Nidhogg?!" shouted both Ansuz and Hagall at the same time.

"Yes, the namesake of our own computer system," said Hild in order to explain. Even though it was supposed to be common knowledge, the demon's supercomputer was actually maned after that terrifying being that lurked deep underneath the ground, in its own realm so to speak, as no one ever dared to enter it. Well, there were a few foolish ones, but they ended up dead in the blink of an eye. "If you follow that path over there, you'll end up in Hvergelmir, the spring where those serpents live and close to where the roots of the Tree of Life enter our realm. It's also the likely location of the Gate, since dragons have that annoying habit of hoarding whatever catches their eye."

"Hild-sama, do we really have to go there?" asked Hagall, who tried to hide the fact that she was really scared, but failed to convince anyone.

"We do," agreed the Daimakaicho. "If we let her go there by herself, she'll most likely end up dead. The dragon's minions don't care about the doublet system. Actually they don't even care if you're a demon as well. Anyone that gets in their territory is not welcome."

Looking around her, nobody seemed particularly enthusiastic or eager to do this. Not even Surt, who was used to these situations. "Oh, come on! Don't give me those looks. Let's get going everyone!" said Hild in an effort to get them motivated.

As the other two started to walk, Hild found the opportunity to ask the Eldjotunn a question that was bothering her for a while. "What do you think happened up there?"

Surt remained quiet for a moment, as he considered his choice of words. "The cut on the safety nets was caused by a serrated blade. Given that what we're looking for has smooth edges, I doubt that this was an accident."

"I thought as much," said Hild, before they joined the rest. Even if the warrior avoided to use that word, she already knew. It was sabotage.

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

Now a few more things for the background information. Muspelheim is the fiery realm in the Norse myths. Its inhabitants are the Fire Giants or Eldjotnar (plurar of Eldjotunn) and Surt (or rather Surtr) is mentioned as their leader. In this story there are certain similarities with that, although there are also some differences as well. Especially given the fact that there seems to be no Giants in the AMG world, so I reused the term for the demon's fighting forces. I felt that there was a need for something to act as a counterpart for the Valkyries and the rest of Heaven's Fighting Wings. Hild also originates from that realm as well and her general appearance was used as a template for the rest of the demons who live there, probably an adaptation to the natural energies of the fiery realm. I felt it would be nice to expand the backstory of Niflheim's leader a bit. Plus, the fact that she originates from a hostile and dangerous world, where only the strongest survives, would help to explain her own strength and even her name which literally translates into "Battle", something fitting for someone that comes from a society where most are warriors.

Speaking of Muspelheim in general, there are a few parallels with the Earth in terms of minerals, like the Basalt I mentioned in the story. However, that is mostly for the sake of familiarizing the reader with the realm. Obviously it is not part of the mortal realm, so it could be also made from very different materials as well, but I will continue to use some terms that originate from our world in order to make more sense. Of course, there will be some minerals that are unique and doesn't exist in our reality. The same goes for every other realm there will be in the story, including Asgard.

Nidhogg is an interesting issue in AMG. Originally it was supposed to be the name for Niflheim's computer system, but in the manga's latest chapters they mention it as being a dragon, with goddesses trying to put it into sleep. It is a bit confusing to be honest, so I decided to go with both versions at the same time. Nidhogg is indeed a dragon, but the demons also used its name for their supercomputer.

Finally, I would like to mention that I'm going on a short vacation in a few days, so there will be a longer delay until the next chapter shows up. I will have Internet access, so I will be around, but I doubt that I'll get much work during that time. Of course, I will continue normally once I get back, so no worries.


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

At this point, Lind could certainly say that she regretted her decision to go on her own. Despite her original belief that going shopping was just a simple task, the way that the mortal realm worked, made it an incredibly frustrating one for the goddess. Not only there were so many different shops that served the same purpose, but that could be also said about the products that were available there. There were tons of brands for the exact same thing, not to mention all the additional variations, flavors and even colors for a few of them, making it very difficult to pick one over the others. The descriptions on her piece of paper were not particularly helpful at all.

'Even rice has different varieties. Oil too,' thought Lind as she studied each of the virtually identical items as carefully as she could. Unlike Peorth that stayed with the Norns on a few occasions, she had only been at the temple once before, during the Angel Eater incident. As such, the goddess had no idea what kind of materials Belldandy used on a daily basis. If only she had asked Belldandy to create a miniature of herself then things might have been easier. However, Lind supposed that finding a spot for Belldandy to hide might've been an issue considering that her attire didn't seem have any spots for it.

But that wasn't the only problem she had with her clothes. Even though she had originally thought that they didn't restrict her motions, the reality was a bit different, especially after she walked for a while in them. Certainly they were a lot less elastic and comfortable compared to her combat uniform, even though the latter was designed to be an armor and therefore way more durable. Of course, Lind had to keep in mind that the materials that mortals had at their disposal were nothing compared to what they used in Asgard. On the other hand, her patience was running out. She wanted to get this done as soon as possible in order to get back to the temple, where she could try something a bit less difficult to move in.

'Let's see, I got the rice, a bottle of soy sauce, eggs, sugar, a daikon, tofu... Now, for pork...' That last one was not easier than the rest, since there were different varieties based on which part of the animal the meat came from. On top of that, the processing of the meat was important too. Looking at the metallic cans on the shelves, she remembered the incident not too long ago when an entire crate of them was delivered to Ansuz-sama. While those particular ones were a bit different than the ones in front of her, she was uncertain if taking one of these might be a good idea. Perhaps Belldandy's family didn't like that kind of processed meat or perhaps it was only limited to those that had the 'SPAM' label on them, just like the ones from that incident.

Of course the sender was also probably the reason for that reaction, since Loki was hardly on Ansuz-sama's favorite list of gods. At any rate she was not going to risk it, so she moved to a different section of the store in order to get a different variety of pork, called bacon. Her dorm mate occasionally consumed that for breakfast, though she never trusted her fellow Valkyrie's cooking to try some. Last time she sampled anything that Thrud had prepared, her tongue was nearly scorched by all the spiciness.

Like any other goddess, Lind had her own house. When on active duty, all Valkyries were supposed to live in the dorms, waiting for any situation that might require their immediate intervention. In an effort to facilitate camaraderie among the ranks of the Fighting Wings, each one of Valhalla's dorm rooms was shared between two individuals. Unfortunately it was very hard for Lind to find someone brave enough to stay with her, especially given her past reputation.

Thor's daughter was one of the few that wasn't intimidated by her in any way, though that also proved to be a problem when the blonde goddess was getting a bit too friendly. Like that time when she offered to cook something for them. Even Lind knew the difference between a normal pepper and a habanero, despite not being all that familiar with cooking and the various food ingredients. So when her fellow Valkyrie accidentally used a fairly large quantity of the latter instead of the former, the blue haired goddess decided that the cafeteria's meals were a better option if she wished to eat something. Unless it was such a simple recipe that her dorm mate couldn't possibly mess up.

Food was technically not a necessity for immortals, it was only something that they enjoyed socially, except for those who were deployed in the mortal realm and happened to have something edible for a recharge medium. Hence, not everyone was totally familiar with cooking and especially not the ingredients that mortals used despite the fact that their popularity was currently increasing in Asgard. The current influx of various human recipes had certainly caused the gods to try all sorts of new dishes, instead of having the same old ones time after time.

Grabbing the American style bacon she had seen Thrud eat, she hoped that Belldandy could use that. At least with that done, there was only one remaining shop she had to go to. The goddess of the present had requested a vase in order to put some flowers in the room that she now shared with her husband. It was a bit of a female touch that Keiichi's room had apparently lacked according to Belldandy, so Lind had to go and buy one.

XXX

"Bloody Hell!" echoed a frustrated voice in the Scottish Highlands. "I was sure that it was here! Darn snake! I'll get you one day..."

"It's a sea serpent."

Turning to his side the tall red haired god gave a dirty look at the shorter black haired companion of his. Although he never asked him to accompany him, the annoying prankster was worse than glue sometimes, always eager to go wherever trouble was. Even if he was the source of it most of the time. The odd pair of gods had nothing in common, aside from the unfortunate fact that the trickster was adopted into the taller god's family for unknown reasons. As far as he knew, virtually nothing about Loki's past was known, not even the names of his real parents. Perhaps only their father knew, but refused to say anything about it.

"Shut it Loki," was all that the irate god had to offer, still upset that his target had apparently vanished. "I got down to Midgard as soon as the Gate had opened and it still managed to disappear."

"It could have just been your imagination, Thor," said Loki. "With all the random wishes that Niflheim had granted, the most likely explanation is that it was actually the residual energy of one of them. Who knows, humans have that tourist attraction in this area, so someone wished for it and temporarily had a monster in the lake. Surely it was not a demonic super weapon."

Thor's mood had not improved a bit, despite the fact that the explanation sounded logical. Standing a bit taller than most, with fiery red hair that was pulled in a short ponytail, the god of thunder was an intimidating sight at best and a terrifying one when angry. Additionally he was still wearing the gold trimmed white combat uniforms that war gods of the Fighting Wings used, a somewhat different variety from what the Valkyries had and ironically more similar to the demons', with a split cape over some plain looking combat fatigues.

Contrary to his current appearance, the god had retired from active duty a long time ago and joined Yggdrasil's debugging department, a decision that baffled many gods in Asgard. Thor, however, felt that he was done with playing soldier. Especially not while following his half brother's orders, as Tyr was far from his favorite member in the family. As a matter of fact, he could tolerate Loki a bit better these days, as crazy as that sounded.

Loki was used to the fierce god, so he was much less concerned than anyone else might have been in his position. In contrast to Thor, he was about average height, with short black hair, purple eyes and wearing a rather plain grey and white attire that was very similar to what most gods had. Unimpressive at a first glance, he was certainly not less troublesome than the god of thunder. In fact, he was often a problem all by himself, since he loved mischief and pulled pranks at any opportunity he could find.

The most interesting fact about the trickster god was his ability to change forms at will. Normally all gods and demons could do that, but in the vast majority of cases, there was little control over the forms they could take. Loki was one of the very few immortals who had the ability to alter those configurations to nearly anything that he wanted, at least to a certain point. Most had a single default humanoid appearance that they used on a daily basis, despite some minor variations in terms of their physical size and age.

On the other hand, his current appearance was only one of the many that he could assume, although it was the one that seemed most natural for him and therefore was considered to be his official look. The primary reason was that his mind found that this appearance was matching his personality and identity better and due to that he always ended up using it as a 'default' one. The other reason was that the gods really wanted a picture of him for his registration papers and an amorphous blob wasn't acceptable.

After several seconds, Thor simply gave up. It was pointless to insist after all. His target was either gone or had never been here to begin with. On the other hand, that troll of a god had brought some interesting news. "Hey, you said something before, right? When I was searching for that darn snake... Can you tell me again, now that I have more time to actually listen to you?"

"It's a sea..." tried to repeat Loki, in a hopeless effort to correct the thunder god, but to no avail.

"Serpent, snake... Whatever! It could be an alligator for all I care!" shouted Thor. "I want the news!"

"Oh, that!" said Loki in a rather happy voice. "I bought a kilt. They had one for a nice discount."

No matter how many eons Thor knew that troublemaker, he could still manage to surprise him with his completely random nature. "Not that, you ingrate! I don't care about you shopping trip! Tell me what you said when you first arrived here!"

"Um... Nice weather?" said Loki, as he slightly tilted his head.

"No! After that!" It was safe to assume that any further delays would result in bodily harm, given how the god's light blue eyes started to glow all of a sudden.

Loki scratched his chin as he considered what to say. It was fun, but at the same time depending on his next few words, there might be another incident like that one they had in Siberia some time ago. Poor forest, never stood a chance... "Well... your niece got married."

"About time," said Thor, giving a knowing nod. "I hope she found someone better than that moron who though he was a musician. Tree spirits..."

"Wrong niece."

"What?" asked the god of thunder. "If it wasn't Urd, then who? Skuld is too young... Baldr doesn't have any kids. Actually he doesn't even have any girlfriend yet, you neither, not that it surprises me... Wait... Belldandy?!"

"That one." Loki really didn't want to be the first one to tell him, but on the other hand, it was going to be really interesting. Or maybe he should have picked a safer hobby.

"I wasn't aware she was dating anyone. So who's the lucky god?" asked a smiling Thor.

"He's not a god."

"Okay... the goddess in that case," said Thor. "I won't judge."

"Wrong again," said Loki, who briefly toyed with the idea of letting the red head try again, although the next ones on the list could make the god of thunder very annoyed. They already had an incident with a demoness in the family and it didn't work very well. So he simple decided to go for it and tell him. "It's a mortal."

"Oh." Thor seemed to be in deep thought, processing the information, along with the associated complications. "Not that again! Like father, like daughter... What a pain..."

"Not to sound rude or anything, but you don't appear to pay attention," said Loki as he knew exactly what the other god was talking about. "I said that they got married. You realize that this could only mean one thing..."

"They passed the test," finished Thor, as he caught up. "Hm... That changes a lot of things. Maybe Belldandy isn't that similar to her father after all. Good for her! But I wonder what kind of mortal managed to pass the Gate with her. Most who had tried to do the same met failure and heartache in the end."

"Well, if you're wondering about the mortal, I've got a quick sketch of him." Searching through the numerous pockets of his clothes, he found a piece of paper with a sketch of the boy. "Here! Take a look at this, I just made it before I left Asgard."

"What the heck is that?" asked Thor as he started at the so called sketch. "Did you ask a toddler to make it? 'Cause I don't understand anything from those stupid lines."

Loki simply grumbled. "Everyone is an art expert these days... Excuse me for being an artificer instead of an artist."

"Who cares?" asked Thor with a shrug. "You would probably suck at that too."

"Are you insinuating anything? My magical artifacts are the best in Asgard," said the trickster god with in an annoyed tone. "Why else do you think that they keep asking me to build parts for Yggdrasil every time they need an upgrade?"

"True. Probably the only reason why the Council hasn't sealed you yet. With you being a troublemaker and everything," said the god of thunder. "Although your filthy monopoly is coming to an end. I do know one goddess that's going to put you out of business for good."

"That kid still has ways to go before she manages to integrate magic and technology in an efficient manner. Not to mention that she needs to stop installing self destruction devices on everything that's not an explosive to begin with. I had even asked Ansuz to give a few lessons to Skuld, but she totally turned me down for no reason at all..." The trickster god let out a sigh as he remembered that particular incident. Her mother had insisted that he was going to be a bad influence for the pure and innocent little goddess.

Ironically, the following day Skuld made the prototype of her very own bomb, which became one of her most successful creations. What were they expecting anyway? Their entire family consisted of troublemakers to begin with, even if each had their own style. "But that's a totally different case. I still don't understand why my sketch is so bad. I mean, take a look to the original," said Loki as he summoned a picture of the mortal in question.

Staring between the image and the crude drawing, Thor could see more than enough reasons to justify his earlier evaluation. However, that wasn't what bothered the red haired god. "If you had an image, then why had you even bothered with that thing in the first place?"

"Give me some credit, Thor. It was a well calculated decision on my part. Knowing you, I was worried that in case you didn't take the news well, there might have been a possibility that the depicted mortal may have had his head at an angle that is physically impossible for his kind. So, in that case I would have only given you the sketch. That may have given the poor mortal some time before you managed to find him. I'm not that bad at drawing, you know." Feeling a bit better, the trickster god enjoyed the suspicious look on Thor's face. The god of thunder was debating whether or not to say anything about this, but remained silent as he diverted his attention to the picture of the boy who managed to get lucky with his niece.

After a few moments, the red haired god had already made up his mind. "We're going."

"Where?" asked Loki in a rather innocent, but clearly fake voice.

"To meet that boy in person, of course." Raising his hand skyward, the god of thunder summoned the portal that would transfer them straight to Nekomi.

"Wait a second, Thor! We can just fly there on our own. There's no need to use the Gate for that," said Loki who apparently didn't like that idea and hoped to simply fly to their destination.

"I'm not taking you on a shopping trip around half the globe. Because that's what you're most likely going to do and honestly I don't have that much time to waste," answered Thor, who happened to know the other god's intentions.

"Aw..."

Seconds later, two lights shot up into the sky.

XXX

Meanwhile, an unlikely group of four headed deeper into the massive cave system under Niflheim, in search of the missing Judgment Gate.

Hild was currently the one in front. According to her claims, she had already been there before and therefore knew the right path. Taking a wrong turn could get someone easily lost in this natural labyrinth, a usually fatal error since the longer one remained here, the less likely one was to get out alive..

"Have you really been here before?" asked Ansuz, who was right behind the Daimakaicho. "After all that explanation of how dangerous this place is, what were you doing here?"

Looking over her shoulder, the demoness merely smiled. "Who knows?"

Apparently, Hild was in no mood to reveal that bit of information, especially if it was about something sensitive. So instead of pressing on, the goddess decided to simply switch to another topic that also bothered her. "So, why are we walking there anyway? Flying is much faster and we avoid wasting time as well. Especially in a situation like this."

"Because we're trying to keep a low profile, you know. Flying requires magic and that's going to turn us into a bunch of obvious targets. We might as well send an invitation to those guardian snakes, asking them to come and get us."

Despite the fact that it made a lot of sense, it still didn't make the goddess feel any better. She was a former Valkyrie and certainly not weak by any means, but the place was giving her the creeps. Of course, it wasn't due to the darkness that filled the eerily silent tunnel. Instead, it was the ambient dark energy that threatened to suffocate her. Even the blonde demoness behind her seemed to struggle in order to remain calm and while the other two appeared to have much better control, she didn't doubt that they were on edge as well.

Surt was the last in the group, following Hild's orders. The Daimakaicho insisted that he had to keep an eye on Hagall, just in case the situation became too hot for her. He honestly didn't know why he had to babysit the one who was supposedly Niflheim's number two, but arguing with her had always proven to be futile, as she always managed to get what she wanted. While the blonde demoness had some rather unique powers, they were nothing particularly impressive at all, especially for someone that high up in the chain of command.

In his opinion, Hild almost appeared to be concerned about her subordinate's well being and while it wasn't unlike her to do something like that, it still made him wonder. He did know that the Daimakaicho had raised the blonde, but given the fact that she had never officially adopted her, he merely assumed that she was just meant to be a servant. Then again, that happened shortly after she left her own daughter in Asgard and perhaps she was worried that Urd could become jealous or even worse, believe that the blonde was meant to be her replacement.

At any rate, he was stuck with babysitting duty and for the first time realized how Hild must have felt back then in Muspelheim. The fiery realm was a very dangerous place, so children had to be under constant supervision at all times, especially given the unruly nature of the demons. As such, small groups of kids were assigned to an older individual, usually a young adolescent that was supposed to keep an eye on them. However as far as he could remember, it often happened to be the other way around, with them trying to keep the young Hild out of trouble, something easier said than done on several occasions. Well, maybe they weren't the easiest to deal with too, but they somehow managed to stay safe.

Sadly out of all of them, only he and Hild remained, as the other two didn't survive their first century as fully fledged Eldjotnar. Not thanks to those bloody gods anyway. At least he had the last laugh after they landed on top of his unit during their foolish attempt to take over Muspelheim, late in their most recent war. It was the last skirmish before they finally agreed to the terms of the doublet system and the reason why a young officer like him got the promotion that made him the ruler of Muspelheim. Especially given the fact that none of the gods made it back home from that fight.

"Okay, that's as far as we can go like that," said Hild, as she suddenly stopped and turned to look at the rest of them. "From this point on, we need a plan if we want to do this. Hagall-chan, you're going to be our secret weapon!"

Pointing at herself in an uncertain way, the demoness could only say one thing. "Me?! But you're a much better choice to deal with them, Hild-sama."

"The thing is, Hagall-chan, that we don't want to have to resort to that if it can be avoided. Using your ability, it is possible to make them think that you are one of them. From that point on, getting the Gate back is going to be a simple task. The rest of us will make sure that you're going to be safe. Anyone want to add anything?" Looking around, Hild saw that the rest were content or at least silent.

Hagall certainly seemed nervous, but tried her hardest to hide it from the others. Not that the Daimakaicho could blame her, given that she was far more worried the last time she's been here, especially since that she was on her own back then. At least with all of them together, their chances were substantially better.

Getting to the main chamber only took a few minutes, but in that short amount of time, their surroundings changed dramatically. While the tunnel was relatively narrow, the new area was so large that it was hard to see the walls in the darkness. Despite that, there were tree roots hanging from the ceiling of the cavern, a bizarre sight given how deep they were supposed to be underground. No regular tree possessed such an extensive root system, leaving only one possible candidate, Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life.

That ancient life form was a true mystery as nobody really knew all that much about it, with only bits and pieces available although those were often considered to be sensitive information. Like the fact that it capable of altering reality and its roots extended in other realms as well, regardless how far those were from Asgard, where its main part was resting.

Rumors had it that the actual tree was in fact that processing core of the gods' supercomputer, unlike its demonic counterpart that was merely named after the infernal dragon. The entire administration complex was apparently built around the tree, with all sorts of computer subsystems and other equipment that allowed the formation of a link between the tree and the celestials. That very connection gave them the ability to manipulate the lower realms, almost as if they were mere simulations inside the computer.

Interestingly, the demons used a very similar trick, by latching onto the roots of the tree and gaining access to its powers, something that greatly annoyed the gods, despite the fact that they could do nothing to stop it. Yggdrasil operated on its own for the most part, with the gods having control over certain aspects of its activities.

The rest was outside of their sphere of influence and the elders amongst them warned that any attempt to change that was extremely dangerous for anyone involved. Because of that, there was no other reason but to share the same resources with Niflheim, which lead to a fierce competition over time.

This was the main reason why both realms ended up fighting each other, although things had improved slightly after the doublet system was established. Furthermore, hacking into the other side's system, or rather their control mechanism, was prohibited in fear that it would simply escalate the situation and lead into a new era of conflict. The few ones that dared to break the rule were severely punished, with Welsper being the most recent example.

"Keep your eyes down, no matter what," warned Hild as they walked in the vast subterranean cavern. The overhanging roots would most certainly tempt the others to look up, something that she greatly regretted a long time ago. Above them was the massive and horrifying form of Nidhogg currently hanging from the ceiling and entangled in Yggdrasil's roots. One could even say that the Tree of Life was holding the gigantic abomination in place and away from the rest of the world. The only thing that the latter could do was to spend its time in eternal sleep, occasionally waking up and gnawing at the roots, even though it was pointless since they regenerated as fast as they were damaged.

Despite that, the dragon was far from harmless, since it possessed an entire army of snakes and even had the ability to create smaller versions of itself that were more than capable of dealing with any of them in no time. The only thing that the celestials managed to do against one of those avatars was to put them to sleep and run away, hoping that the dragon would lose interest once it woke up. Anyone that actually tried to harm the dragon, realized that it was nearly impossible to kill since its regenerating capabilities matched those of Yggdrasil. The only result was to annoy the creature, which resulted in a very violent and lethal response.

Given the fact that they looked like a bunch of insects compared to the massive beast, it was imperative to ignore it as they moved forward. Even a glimpse of the creature above them could render the mightiest of them into a shaking crybaby, something that they certainly didn't need at this point. The main goal was to find the Gate that was probably located in one of the several piles of random stuff that the dragon decided to keep. Most were things that somehow fell down from the throne room above the Pit, but a few others were ones that the dragon's avatars had collected over time.

So far the good news was that there was no sign of the snakes that usually wandered around the caverns. However, Hild was only getting increasingly nervous, thinking that it was a bit too easy. It would be dangerous to assume that they had managed to sneak into the area without anyone noticing. If that was the case, the snakes could be watching them already, rendering her plan to use Hagall's power to create illusions, completely useless. If that was the case, then her blonde assistant was in much greater danger that she considered to be acceptable, so after a moment of debating with herself, she ended up moving from her position and towards the other demoness, just in case.

Moments later, they reached the center of the room, where the missing Gate was most likely located. Now all that was left was to find the thing and get out of there as fast as possible.

XXX

Having acquired the last item on the list, Lind had decided that it was about time to head back. Despite some difficulties, her shopping trip was relatively uneventful. Balancing the bags she was carrying, instead of levitating them, she walked towards the spot where she had parked Keiichi's BMW.

Lind was known as a patient and even persistent goddess, but it had been a challenge to ignore the discomfort she felt from her tight pants. Her original expectations were based on her previous experience from similar outfits that were available in Asgard. Sadly, the human made materials were nothing like the ones that the celestials were using, causing her a fair amount of issues. Her movements were indeed restricted and even worse, they were sticking to her body way too much. Finally deciding that it was enough, Lind took a turn at a narrow alley between two buildings, where she could readjust her clothes, away from the prying eyes of the other pedestrians.

It only took a moment to readjust her pants in such a way that they weren't annoying her that much and while it was not really a solution, it would have to do for now. As she was about to get the bags off the ground, the Valkyrie noticed than in very brief amount of time she needed to dislodge a particularly annoying piece of denim off her backside, a stray dog had taken the opportunity to check the source of the delicious scent that came from the direction of those plastic bags. Shoving his snout into one of them, he was very close to getting hold of some tasty bacon, until the bipedal entity next the bag had different ideas.

"Hey! Don't touch other people's food without permission!" shouted Lind. "I really don't like thieves."

The poor mutt didn't stick around to apologize or even explain his situation. Instead he opted to run away like normal, since word in the alleys indicated that this was the best decision when dealing with those that had two legs. Unfortunately, in his hurry he hit one of the other bags, causing it to tip over and resulting in a loud crash.

Lind was really disappointed with her momentary lack of attention, resulting to the likely irreparable damage to what was most certainly the vase that Belldandy had requested. Technically speaking it should have been only a minor issue for most goddesses, but Lind was not great with repair magic, a rather embarrassing fact. Buying a new one would be a gross waste of Belldandy's money and she really didn't want to bring it back home in such a sorry state. Even if the other goddesses could repair it back to its original condition, there was still the fact that she needed to overcome that hurdle. At one point she had to manage to do this all by herself. A Valkyrie wasn't supposed to run to others for such insignificant matters.

Once she made her mind up, she took a step back and called her powers forth, hoping to get it right this time around. Taking a moment to inspect the outcome of her attempt, she noticed a slight improvement. But it was still a rather pathetic attempt overall. The vase only had a slight resemblance to its original configuration and while most would recognize it as one, she was not happy with its current appearance. Lind did briefly consider the possibility of breaking it again and trying one more time, but as it was, she doubted that she could get a better result. It was humiliating, but she needed to ask Peorth again.

Unfortunately given the vase's new shape, it was a bit hard to fit back into the bag. So she had to resort into carrying all of them in one hand and the vase on the other. She was a few minutes away from the parked bike, when a reluctant voice called out to her.

"Excuse me, miss!"

Turning around, the Valkyrie noticed a bespectacled man with gray hair that seemed to be very nervous as he struggled to get closer to her.

"Yes? Can I help you?" she asked.

"My apologies for interrupting you like that, but I couldn't help but notice the rather unique vase that you're carrying. I happen to be a glass artisan and one of my regular clients had recently requested a modern piece, much like the one you have. That happens to be my weak spot, I'm afraid. I'm most comfortable with the more traditional designs and I would be interested to learn where you purchased this item. Normally I wouldn't even consider such an option, but I don't want to say no to an old client. Even more, it could be a nice business opportunity if they are interested in purchasing some of my works as well."

The man appeared to be a strange one, although the Valkyrie could have sworn that there was something vaguely familiar about him. Looking at the distorted vase and briefly wondered who could actually think that this was intentionally made in such a manner. Even more bizarre was the idea of having to pay money for getting it. However, if the man wanted an answer then she was going to give him one. "Actually, I didn't buy it from anywhere. I'm the one that made it like that."

"What?!" asked the somewhat startled man. "I'm sorry, but I would've never thought that you were a modern artist." On the other hand, she did appear to have that eccentric appearance that was occasionally associated with artists. Her blue asymmetric hair was a clear indication of that, although the markings on her face were somehow familiar.

Lind on the other hand was rather confused about the man's comment. She was indeed a fighting expert and was familiar with many types of martial arts, but had no idea what he was talking about. Instead, she decided that the more direct approach was probably the best option in situations like this. "Do you want the vase? You look very interested in it."

"Eh?" asked the bespectacled man. "I would be certainly interested, but I'm not certain if you want to part with it. After all, it's your work."

It was her handiwork alright, but suddenly she had an idea to get out of her current predicament. "I could sell it to you if you want. A friend of mine requested a normal looking one, so I need some extra money to go and buy one."

The man blinked a few times, wondering if he'd heard her right. "But miss! Something like your work certainly costs a lot more than that. As a fellow artist, I wouldn't want to buy anything unless it's a fair deal for both parties involved. How does fifty thousand yen sounds to you?"

That was several times the amount of money that Belldandy had given her. "But...!"

"I see... It's not enough," said the man. "How about sixty thousand? I still need to have some room for making a profit as well."

The Valkyrie gave it some thought. The man just increased the offer despite the fact that he was actually buying a distorted vase. Telling him the truth was out of question, but on the other hand, she could buy a new vase with all that money. Plus, the rest could be useful for Keiichi-kun, who like most other mortals depended on money for his everyday activities. "I agree. That sounds fair."

"Very good." Once the transaction was over, the man just realized that he hadn't actually introduced himself. Searching in his pockets, he found a business card that he offered in a reluctant manner, almost as if he was afraid to come into contact with her. Despite his mannerisms, Lind took the card and immediately noticed something rather interesting. However, before she managed to say it, the man had already beat her to it. "Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Morisato Keima, owner of the Glass Cat shop in Kushiro."

"I'm Lind," said the Valkyrie, trying to avoid the full version of her introduction that included license class, assignment and of course the fact that she was a goddess. "I must ask, though, are you related to Morisato Keiichi?"

That slightly took Keima by surprise. "I do have a son whose name is Keiichi." However, he suddenly realized why her facial markings looked somewhat familiar. His son's girlfriend had also a few as well, just like her two sisters and the other woman who was living with them. He was certain that she wasn't there during the previous time that he dropped by for a visit with his wife, Takano, but perhaps she was a recent addition to the otherwise bizarre inhabitants of the Tariki Hongan temple.

"Keima-kun, I don't know that Keiichi's really into modern vases..." said a female voice from behind the man.

Speaking of his wife, the glass artisan was caught red handed this time. He had promised to go buy something for Keiichi's birthday and instead he spent their entire budget on business. There was no way he could get himself out of this one.

Meanwhile above the unlikely group, the mini Urd was intently observing the current developments. She had just arrived the moment when Keiichi's father met Lind, so she decided to stick around and see how things would progress. 'Ufufu... Things are going to get interesting...'

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

I'm back from my vacations and finally have the chapter ready. Actually it took me a bit shorter than I anticipated, but at the very least I can work on the story at a more comfortable pace like I used to.

There are several things I'd like to note for this chapter.

Thrud in the Norse myths is the daughter of Thor and Sif and mentioned as one of the Valkyries and she's exactly that in this story too. Her character model is based on the unnamed Valkyrie that was seen in Lind's flashback scene during the Angel Eater arc in the manga. She's the one that assisted Lind with her training.

Thor is a well known son of Odin, so there is little I need to add about him at this point.

On the other hand, Loki is a different situation. He is technically Odin's sworn brother in Norse myths, not his son by any means. However he is listed as an adopted member of Odin's family for the needs of this story.

Tyr is also mentioned as a son of Odin as well, although that particular information is not very well established in the myths. Basically some list him as one of the various sons of Odin, while others have those two gods to be unrelated and instead mention Tyr as son of Hymir. I used the version that had him related to Odin, so that it makes the family tree of the Norns a bit larger. I hope that this will be a more interesting option since the three goddesses have three uncles this way (including Loki as well).

Baldr is also Odin's son and one that died when Loki tricked Hod (or Hodur) to shoot him. In this story however he's not actually dead and that's why Thor mentions that he doesn't have children yet, instead of using a past tense.

Loki is also mentioned as being an artificer that supplies the gods with various components for the computer that allows them to interface with the World Tree. An artificer is the archaic word for a skilled craftsman and inventor, so I found it to be fitting for someone that does that job.

Kushiro, the hometown of Keiichi is only mentioned once in the manga, when his father appeared and Chihiro asked how far did he had to travel. Keiichi's reply was that he came from Kushiro. It's an actual city in eastern Hokkaido, unlike the fictional Nekomi city. That bit of information is not really mentioned again in the story, only that he's from Hokkaido. Also, the name of his parents' shop is actually written on Takano's outfit, when she appeared in the manga.

Finally, Yggdrasil itself is an actual tree, with the computer only being there in order to allow the gods to interact with it. Interestingly the demons are also possessing a computer that's latched at the roots of the World Tree, allowing them to affect the world with it as well. That is another reason why they call their system Nidhogg, since like the actual dragon itself it's attached to Yggdrasil. The fact that both sides are essentially using the same core for their world altering systems is the main reason for ending up competing with each other. Otherwise I don't see why that would be necessary, in the event that their resources were clearly separated.


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

Sitting leisurely on an aerial antenna that was placed on top of a nearby building, the miniature version of Urd was intently observing the events that were unfolding below her. Her original mission was to pick Lind and go back to the temple, but the situation had taken a very interesting turn as Keiichi's parents had somehow managed to run into the Valkyrie.

On the other hand, Keima Morisato wasn't having such a great time. The disapproving look on his wife's face was all the evidence he needed to realize just how much trouble he had gotten into. She was correct, though, as he has indeed spent most of their money on some business related purchase, while the original intent was to buy something for their son's birthday. "I'm sorry. I just got enthusiastic about it and spent too much for the vase..."

"Well, it's a bit late for that, isn't it, Keima-kun?" asked his wife, before she turned to the goddess that was standing next to them. "I must admit that it is rather surprising to see that Keiichi is befriending artists. He certainly wasn't all that interested in Keima's craft back home. Or does it have to do with the fact that you're Belldandy's friend?"

"How do you know that?" asked a puzzled Lind, as the woman had only recently joined them and couldn't have possibly heard that she knew Keiichi from her conversation with his father.

"Actually, it's the markings on your face. All of the ladies living with him have them as well," said Takano.

"Oh..." Her sigils were something very natural for her, but on the other hand, the mortals were clearly unfamiliar with them. The latter did have some techniques to create markings with paint under their skin, but those were very different in nature and purpose compared to the ones that the former had. She could turn them invisible for the mortals, although it was a bit late for that right now since they had already seen them anyway. "It's true that I'm friends with Keiichi's wife."

Above them, Urd face palmed as she realized the Valkyrie's blunder. In her attempt to provide a helpful reply, she had accidentally disclosed a dangerous bit of information. Maybe it was a bad idea to let her handle this on her own, as she was a rather honest individual that wouldn't try to deceive anyone. Especially in a critical situation like this.

The couple stared at the blue haired goddess for a long time as they tried to process that last bit of information. It was entirely possible that the foreign looking woman mistook the word 'girlfriend' with 'wife,' but so far she was speaking Japanese fluently, just like Belldandy and her sisters. That left only the possibility that she meant exactly what she said.

"They got married?" asked Takano, as she was still trying to recover from the news. "When did that happen?"

It was exactly at that moment that the goddess fully realized her error. 'Oh no... I've really done it this time...'

Urd scratched the back of her head as she tried to figure out what to do as well. Maybe if she hadn't taken this so lightly, she could have stopped the Valkyrie from spilling the beans. So much for that idea. If Keiichi heard about this, the poor boy was going to end in in the hospital from all the stress. It was possible that the situation demanded one of her forgetfulness pills, but it could be a bit early to take such decisive action. The best option was to continue to observe and where things went. If worst came to worst, then some divine intervention would be necessary.

Lind was still struggling to come up with something that would get herself out of her current predicament. Maybe telling them part of the truth was going to be better. "They married yesterday

as a matter of fact."

"Really? We hadn't gotten any invitations. No one told us anything either... Hm... Was it a private wedding then?" asked Takano, as she tried to get more information out of Lind.

"Well... Yes, I suppose you could call it that, but..."

"Aha! I knew it!" exclaimed the woman, as she had gotten one step closer to figuring things out. "He must have run out of money again, didn't he? But why didn't he call us in that case?"

"Huh?!" was the only thing that the goddess could say. How in Asgard's name did she came up with that? Humans were so strange at times...

It was Keima who offered an answer to his wife. "Keiichi had always wanted to be self reliant, so it's only natural that he chose this course of action. He _is_ my son, after all."

"Um... excuse me..." started Lind, who felt the urge to clean up this misunderstanding before it got out of hand. However, she remembered Peorth's words from yesterday, when Hild had suggested that it was Hagall who damaged Keiichi's home.

_'Lind, just go along with it...' _

Finding that this was the best course of action for the time being, she stopped herself from correcting Keiichi's parents. Instead, she decided that getting back was her new priority. "I'm really late and they must be already waiting for me to return. But before I go, can I ask one thing?"

Looking at each other for a moment, the two mortals wondered what the blue haired woman wanted to know. Eventually, Takano decided to find out. "Sure thing, what is it?"

"You don't seem too surprised that Keiichi got married. I'd expected that you would've had a stronger reaction to the news."

"Well... To be honest, we already knew that he wanted to marry Belldandy," said Takano. "During our last visit, it was really obvious that he loved her a lot, so it was only a matter of time before it actually happened."

"That's true indeed," added Keima as he slowly nodded his head. "He really showed a lot of determination in the race we had back then, so we were certain that this wasn't just some simple crush. He really wanted her to stay with him for his entire life."

'Actually he wanted her to stay with him forever...' thought the Valkyrie. But that was something entirely different from what the mortal couple had in mind. "I see... Well, I have to go now..."

"Wait a second," said Takano. "Thanks to Keima-kun, we don't have the money to buy a gift anymore, so why don't we all go to Keiichi's home together?"

Thinking about it for a moment, Lind found no reason to decline the woman's offer. "Very well. The bike's just a block away, then we can head to the temple."

The unlikely trio, plus the miniature Urd above them, headed towards the location where Keiichi's BMW was parked.

XXX

_Ithavoll, Asgard._

Located at the outskirts of the Asgard's capital city were the plains of Ithavoll, the very place were the ancient gods held their meetings. Today, a huge complex stands to provide the necessary facilities and offices for the High Council of the Gods. The latter consisted of twelve members that represented the gods, without counting the Daitenkaicho himself. The goddesses on the other hand were gathered in Vingolf, a hall located at the main part of the city where the High Council of the Goddesses gathered under the supervision of their Representative Director, who also was the second highest ranking celestial in Asgard.

Technically speaking, the Daitenkaicho was supposed to control both the administrative bodies, but for practical reasons, only had one of those two under their direct control. Based on the gender of the leader of Asgard, he or she was appointed to the appropriate council and somebody else had to oversee the other. Because the vast majority of the Daitenkaichos were gods, the second in command was naturally a goddess in order to fit the needs of this governing system. In most cases the leader's spouse managed to get that position, although it was not an actual rule. When, Tyr, the current Daitenkaicho tried to get himself a demoness wife, some secretly joked that Vingolf was going to get styled after Niflheim in order to appease the missus.

Nobody really knew why the celestial government was organized like that and almost certainly there was not anyone alive to remember that back when that decision was made. It just passed from one generation to the next and became part of Asgard's history and tradition. Most of those earlier gods were no longer around, as the constant fighting with the demons had claimed many lives on both sides. While it was inconvenient, gods did like to follow the old customs and were very reluctant to change them. Due to that there were also two identical offices available for the Daitenkaicho. The first was actually assigned to the one who held that title and the other for the second in command. The only difference was their locations and the selection was again based on the ruler's gender.

Tyr was located in the same office that his father and predecessor had been in. Odin was one of the longest reigning Daitenkaicho, more so than any other god in history. But Tyr found little solace in this place, despite how much of his own life he spent here.

One of the biggest problems was that he ended up living and not just working in this environment. The gods had very high standards for their leader, so his work had to be perfect in every respect, something that simply meant a lot of time consuming effort to keep up with those expectations. What had started as a few all-nighters of boring paperwork had become a lifestyle now. Taking a break was very hard and the best he could do was to head over to the window in order to watch the outside world with his own eyes, instead of relying on the various camera feeds that he could access though his terminal.

The very same was true for his wife, Ansuz, who was also having a hard time as the Representative Director of the goddess council. She lived in a virtually identical office in Vingolf and was just as busy. Even though there was the Lesser Council that regulated the needs of the capital city, the other two administrative bodies had to oversee all the celestial activities not only in Asgard but also the rest of the realms under their control. Those tasks required constant attention which resulted in very few interactions between them. As a matter of fact, both deities had to rely on Baldr to raise their daughters, since they rarely even visited their own house.

The god of light and youngest of his three brothers was more than happy to raise the Norns as he had no children of his own. He was even the one who had taken Urd when Hild had brought her to Asgard, introducing the nervous goddess to the anxiously waiting Belldandy. Baldr was considered a role model amongst gods and the decision to raise Belldandy was a good one, he did refuse to raise Urd though and instead left that task for the eldest of his brothers, Thor. He had repeatedly stated that he had no issues with the girl and it was merely a matter of conflicting personalities.

Unlike Belldandy, Urd had the same temper as Thor at times and the god of thunder already had a daughter around her age as well. What he never told Urd was that trying to raise her like her sister wouldn't really work out as she was a half goddess hybrid and using the same approach as with any other goddess would suppress her demonic side far too much. Unlike himself who was only a healer in the Fighting Wings, while Thor had a much more experience with demons. However those facts were kept a secret from the young Urd as they would only make her early life in Asgard even harder.

Separating the girls would have been a bad decision though, so they both stayed together and Urd only visited Thor for a few lessons and spent the rest of her free time with Belldandy and even Baldr who kept a watchful eye on the young goddesses.

Despite the situation with Urd's training, he hadn't personally spoken with his elder brother for quite some time. It only happened in cases of official business, but nothing much beyond that. The god of thunder was a bit old fashioned in certain ways and valued family and traditions more than any other law in Asgard, as it was a matter of honor for him. When Tyr was forced to be separated from Hild, Thor was furious that his brother simply went along with it just like that. He called him a spineless coward and never spoke to him from that point on, at least for personal matters.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons that Thor wasn't interested in the Daitenkaicho's position to begin with. He valued his own family too much to take a job that would consume all of his personal time. At least Thor hadn't shown the same attitude towards the other members of his family and even spoiled the three goddesses on occasions. Still, he refused to acknowledge Ansuz as his sister-in-law on the grounds that Tyr hadn't properly separated from Hild yet and even went as far as to continue calling the latter 'sister', a fact that aggravated Asgard's second in command to no end. Despite that, she never tried to correct him, as the god of thunder wasn't known for his patience and it didn't take much to annoy him, with all the predictable results.

Tyr, however, had more issues than his elder brother to worry about right now. Turning away from the office's window, the Daitenkaicho decided to return back to his work. Niflheim's rebellion had generated a month's paperwork in less than a single day. Scratching his head, he didn't even know where to start from, as the number of reports he had to read were simply staggering. At least he didn't have to deal with the ones from Peorth and Lind, since he gave them a short vacation, but that would hardly change anything. However, it would appease those who constantly complained that the council never really rewarded anyone and only made the work harder. As a matter of fact, those two goddesses sounded really happy, given that they've got the chance to stay with his daughters for a while.

The sudden noise from the door made him turn. It was just the god he was expecting. Using his power to push most of the papers to the sides of his desk in neatly organized stacks, he decided that it was time to deal with this issue once and for all. "Come in"

As the double doors opened, a god with blonde hair that was pulled in a long ponytail walked in. Taking a look around the office with his green eyes, he eventually turned to the dark haired god that was still waiting for him to approach. "Hello, oniisama."

"Hello, Baldr. Have you brought the item I've ordered?" asked the Daitenkaicho as he stared at his youngest brother.

"Yes, I just got it from the Magical Research Institution. Here, it's inside the box, although they wouldn't tell me what's its purpose," said the god of light.

Taking the box in his own hands, Tyr quickly turned around to inspect the contents. Inside was a seemingly plain looking bracelet with a single gemstone, as well as a note with what was most likely the instructions from its creators. Checking both of them for a few minutes, he nodded happily as he found that the item was indeed built to meet his specifications. However as he was about to turn back to his brother, he realized that Baldr was fiddling around with a second box. "Hm? What's that you've got there?"

"Oh, this?" asked Baldr as he opened the box. "It's a gift! I've got a nice hairpin for you."

"Huh?!" exclaimed the startled Daitenkaicho. "Look... now... You're the last person in the family to pull this joke on me. Your hair is just as long as mine, so you're not one to speak. Besides I don't wear hairpins... Got it? Just who asked you to do this anyway? Loki?"

The god of light looked puzzled for a moment, until he realized that his brother had misunderstood. "Um... Actually, it's not for you. I just thought that it would've been nice to buy a gift for sister, since your anniversary is coming up and, knowing you, it's unlikely you've remembered it."

"What are you talking about Baldr, of course I keep track of such matters. I even have it marked on my calendar, so I wouldn't possibly forget it." Reaching out to his desk, he managed to get the item in question, but in the process he decided to check it as well. Suddenly the supreme ruler of Asgard started to lose his color as he stared at the circled date, that was dangerously close and yet he had made absolutely no preparations. "Uh... Now that I think about it, that hairpin is really nice. Can I have it?"

"Of course, oniisama. Here you go."

"Thank you," said Tyr as he quickly placed both boxes on his desk and used his powers to wrap them as proper gifts. He did however notice the look on his brother's face which clearly indicated that the younger god was expecting something. "Is there something else, Baldr?"

"Well, I'm going to deliver it, right?" asked the blonde god in the sweetest voice he could manage.

"Actually, I was going to send a Valkyrie..." started to say the ruler of Asgard.

"But, oniisama, both Thor and Loki are already on Midgard. Why can't I go and congratulate my own student as well?" asked Baldr. He was certain that his other two brothers had already gone to Midgard to meet with the newlyweds and yet he was the was supposed to let a Valkyrie to get there instead of him? After he practically raised Belldandy? No way...

"Hold on! What did you say?!" shouted Tyr, turning pale once more.

"That I wanted to congratulate my student?" asked Baldr while he slightly tilted his head.

"No! Before that!"

"Oh! Our brothers are already on Midgard," said the god of light.

"Do you have any idea what that means? Every time those two head there, they break something and now they're there?!" Grabbing one of the two wrapped gifts, Tyr tossed the item to his younger brother and started to push him towards the door. "Here. Have fun! Take a few days off, my treat. Just make sure they don't do anything this time. I've got enough work already! Send my daughters my regards. Bye bye, take care, etc..."

The overwhelmed god stared at the door behind him as it closed, leaving him alone and slightly confused in the vast hall. Tyr was collected and serious most of the time, but started to act really funny and childish when he was under a lot of stress. Well, he did have a gift to deliver and he would get to see his nieces again. While the three of them were often a bit of a trouble, he really did miss them after they left for Midgard. With a smile, he started for the Gate room.

XXX

Keiichi and Megumi had already finished their fifth lap around the area when the young mechanic suddenly recognized his prized bike among the parked vehicles. "Hold on, Megumi! It's over there!"

"Really?! I could have sworn that we already passed this place before. Well, we found your bike at the very least." Stopping her green KSR right in front of Keiichi's BMW, she let out a sigh of relief. What a crazy situation this was... But then again she missed the excitement from those crazy incidents that happened around her brother. Ever since Keiichi graduated from NIT, things were rather dull for Megumi, considering that he rarely showed up anymore. His friends at the Motor Club were also much tamer since Tamiya and Otaki had also graduated and while the club's reputation was still questionable, they rarely involved themselves in the same antics that they used to.

Life was starting to get boring for the youngest Morisato. A year or even two and she was going to graduate as well and for the most part, she had no idea what to do from that point on. Keiichi managed to get the position in Chihiro's shop and while not the most glamorous of jobs, it was something. She didn't know if she could manage to work in that shop as well, given that the founder of the Motor Club didn't have the budget to set up a big business. The store in question was actually housed inside a re-purposed shipping container that was modified to meet their needs. It was doubtful if there was even the room for an extra employee in there. But on the other hand, it would have been really nice to be around Keii-chan and Bell-chan again.

Keiichi's inspection of the bike had confirmed that nothing was out of place or even broken. Now all he needed was to find Lind and get back into the temple, hopefully in time to let Belldandy prepare something for his parents' arrival. At least that way, they would probably take the news a bit better and not disown him for not inviting them to his wedding.

"Um... Keii-chan. Does this Lind character have blue hair?" asked Megumi as she suddenly noticed someone approaching them in the distance.

"Yes..." said a puzzled Keiichi. "I thought you never met her, Megumi."

"I haven't, Keii-chan," said his sister while she pointed towards the Valkyrie. "But she must be the one that's walking alongside Keima-san and Takano-san over there."

Keiichi felt at times the universe was doing its best to get him in the most bizarre situations possible. This was starting to look like one of those cases, with his bad luck striking once more. After all, what were the chances for the Valkyrie to run across his parents before he had a chance to even talk to them? Turning his head slowly towards the indicated direction, he realized that his sister had been indeed correct.

"Hey, Keii-chan? Are you okay? You seem awfully pale all of a sudden..." Waving a hand in front of her brother's face, she realized that he was not responsive at all. Smacking him on the back of his head, she tried to get his attention. "Wake up! This isn't the right situation to space out like that."

"Ow... You're right, but that wasn't a reason to hit me like that, Megumi!" complained Keiichi as he rubbed his head.

As Lind approached the bike, she noticed that Keiichi was already waiting for her. "Keiichi-kun? Did your visitor leave already? By the way, I ran into..."

"Yes, at least that's what Belldandy told me when I called earlier," said Keiichi as he wearily eyed his parents. "And I can see them very well, Lind..."

Before anyone could say anything, a deafening explosion shook the ground and even broke a few windows in the distance. It was more than enough to cause everyone to look in the direction of its most likely source, the Nekomi mountain ridge.

'That was most certainly made by a celestial,' thought Lind. Ignoring the other mortals, the Valkyrie focused on Keiichi. "Keiichi-kun, it would be for the best to get back as soon as possible. I need to check on this."

While the rest of his relatives were looking in the general direction of the explosion, just like some of the other pedestrians, Keiichi moved a bit closer to the goddess in hopes to avoid being heard. Lowering his voice as much as he could manage, he whispered the first question that popped into his head. "Demons?"

Keeping an eye to the rest, the Valkyrie shook her head. "Gods," she whispered back.

'What's next?' wondered Keiichi. A demonic rebellion, getting through the Judgment Gate test, his wedding, the party, Sayoko, Lind, his family dropping by... Just when was he going to be able to take a breath? The last two days had been so frantic that he didn't even get to celebrate his birthday, not that it was truly important anymore. He just wanted to finally spend some time with his... wife. Funny thing... It's still hard to even believe he'd gotten married.

"Keii-chan," said his sister, bringing him out of his thoughts. "Wasn't that from the direction of the temple?"

"Nah... it's probably nothing..." he lied as a way to avoid any topic that may involve immortals in front of his family. "Maybe it was just thunder."

The younger Morisato raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?! Thunder? There's not even a single cloud today, so where do you think it came from?"

'Urd? Who knows...' thought Keiichi. It was amusing to think that he had a lot of possibilities for this kind of situation. It was only natural for most other mortals to have no idea about any of those matters. "I still don't think that it's something serious."

"You think? Remember that incident when the Makhuhari convention center got completely smashed?" asked Megumi. "It came out of the blue, just like that. Who knows what happened this time?"

'That was Urd being possessed by the Lord of Terror...' thought Keiichi while he tried to suppress a groan.

Seeing that her brother wasn't going to do anything, Megumi put on her helmet and started the motor of her KSR. "Well, stay here if you want, Keii-chan. I'm going to see if everything is alright at the temple."

His parents also shared a look, before they turned to leave. "We're going after Megumi-chan too," said his mother.

"Eh?! You're going there?" asked the surprised mechanic.

"Well... We were planning to visit anyways," said Takano. "Besides we want to see how your wife is doing as well."

"See you on the temple, Keiichi," added his father.

As soon as they were out of sight, Lind handed Keiichi the shopping bags. "Keiichi-kun, take those and bring them home. In the meanwhile, I'll head there to see what's going on."

Before he even had a chance to say anything, he was left alone with the bags as the Valkyrie pressed her hand on the windscreen of a nearby parked car and disappeared in a flash. Seeing that he had no other option, he got on his BMW and started for the temple as well.

Above him, the miniature version of Urd decided that her mission had technically failed, but she was having too much fun, as things were about to get really interesting. With that, she headed back to the temple as well.

XXX

At the Tariki Hongan Temple, a cloud of thick smoke was just dissipating after the fierce explosion that took place moments ago. In the middle of the bell tower's remains, two figures were dusting themselves while they inspected the damage around them. Apparently there seemed to be a structure underneath the destination point of their transfer, which was blown away the moment they landed. Especially thanks to the rather large momentum that one of them gained as they descended from the sky where the Gate had opened.

"You know, Thor..." said Loki as he turned to his taller companion. "The war is over."

"Huh?!" How was that even relevant to this situation at all? The god of thunder knew that trying to understand the trickster's mind was a lost cause, but it still bugged him when he threw him off like that. "What are you talking about?"

"We're supposed to meet our nieces and our new nephew, not charge into a battlefield," replied Loki. It wasn't unusual for the Fighting Wings to sometimes use such dynamic entries as a way to provide cover as well as a method of disrupting a possible ambush. Using it in a situation like this was completely pointless and possibly dangerous as well, since this Morisato boy was a mortal and possibly nearby.

"Hey! I held back quite a bit, you know. If I hadn't done that, then this town would have been..." Thor started to say as he noticed the skeptical look that his companion was giving him. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"You know... Now that I think about it, Hild sure tried to marry the wrong god," said Loki while scratching his chin, lost in thought. "You would have made a great couple, actually."

Feeling that the trickster was either trying to aggravate him or just being silly like usually was, Thor simply remained silent and started to walk towards the house in front of him. Just as he was about to reach the door, he felt a small amount of magic being summoned behind him. Apparently Loki had decided to fix the damage that they... or rather _he_ had caused for the most part. That was a rather interesting sight, if he had to admit, as the other god was anything but responsible. After all Thor wasn't going to leave it like that, he just wanted to say 'hi' before he got cleaned up the mess. Did he accidentally hit the trickster's head as well or was he just trying to make a good first impression?

'Whatever... it's about time he fixes something instead of causing the mess. Could become a good habit.' Before he even managed to ring the doorbell, someone had already gotten out to meet him.

"Uncle Thor! What a surprise! Why didn't you call us beforehand, so we could prepare something?" said Urd as she hovered closer to the tall god.

While the goddess was indeed smiling, Thor knew her better than her own father. "Urd-chan, you may be a bit of a liar, but you're certainly a bad one. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you don't really want me here, so what's up?"

Letting out a sigh, the goddess of the past set her feet on the ground before she folded her arms. "What's _not_ up is the real question. We had a little bit of everything going on the last two days and Keiichi's parents are already in Nekomi. Having _both_ of you here might be a bit too much for the poor guy."

"Yeah, I know..." said Thor with a shrug. "But you know how it is. Since I was in the neighborhood, I took the opportunity to drop by as well. If I went back to Asgard, then who knows when I would be allowed to visit."

Urd knew that her uncle was right and to be honest she did miss him and his silly antics, but some things had to be prioritized. Keiichi was coming home with the shopping bags according to her miniature version that just had returned. But his parents were most likely going to arrive before him. Belldandy was at least making some more tea in order to have something for them.

"Uncle! Welcome to our home," Belldandy said, who had just arrived to find out who was at the door. As the goddess of the present offered a small bow, she looked around with a puzzled expression. "Wasn't uncle Loki with you too?"

"He's over there," said Thor as he pointed behind him, but suddenly realized that there was no one beside the bell tower. Turning to his right, he spotted the trickster next to the main temple. While some may have assumed that he had just gotten confused with the two buildings and went for the wrong one, the god of thunder knew better. Approaching the short, waist-tall wooden fence that separated the main temple from the house, he saw Loki inspecting the offerings. "Hey! How many times have I told you to leave money alone?!"

"But... Aren't we gods? Surely it isn't bad if we just collect the..."

"Just come here, you!" shouted Thor, who had no intention to go though the same old argument with his adopted brother. It happened from time to time, when they ran into temples and Loki wanted to make some easy cash by using that excuse. To be honest, he was certain that the trickster didn't even need the money but mostly did it to aggravate him.

"Can I keep the batteries though?" asked Loki. "There are a couple of them among the offerings."

"Huh?!" That was something that he had never heard before. Power cells as a form of tribute? Crazy mortals... Looking at Urd, his niece had the same baffled expression, so maybe that wasn't common after all. "Whatever..."

Loki was about to say something, before he noticed something or rather someone coming at his location at high speed. Aeons of experience and well exercised reflexes at avoiding whatever the others tried to throw at him kicked in as he narrowly missed a foot that was aiming for his face. The owner of said body part smashed into the ground with enough force to bring down the main temple. Even worse, she was a very familiar and extremely dangerous individual. "Lind-san, how nice of you to drop by for a visit. I assume that everything is going well?"

"Cut the small talk, Loki. What have you done this time?" asked the irate goddess that had the misfortune of knowing the trickster all too personally. Actually, most of the Valkyries knew him due to his pranks, causing them to chase him quite a few times. It happened so often that some even thought to include this in the training exercises as Loki was good at taking the goddesses for a jog. There was even a running gag among them that whoever caught him was going to get a nice promotion all the way to the highest ranks of Valhalla.

"Me?! Nothing at all... not yet anyways..." said the god as he stared at the broken structure beside him. Of all the Valkyries, why her? She was the hardest to deal with, but also the best one to tease as well.

"Then what was that explosion from before?" asked Lind who hadn't really bought anything that the troublemaker had said. Grabbing the front of his robes, she slightly lifted him from the ground. "Give me a reason to believe you."

"Two actually... The first is that I'm technically a first class god," said Loki as he raised a finger while he counted, before he pointed at the god of thunder who was watching them. "And the second is that he did it."

Noticing the other god, Lind let go of Loki and suddenly snapped at attention. "Thor-sama! I'm sorry but I didn't notice you."

"How many times I've told you that I'm no longer in the Fighting Wings? Never mind, the explosion was indeed my doing, but that's no longer an issue. We'll only have fix the damage that you've caused and there won't be any problems anymore. But I must commend your sense of duty given that you're on... vacation by the look of it."

Lind could barely contain her smile. One of the most famous members in the Fighting Wings' history had just praised her. Before she had the opportunity to say something, the troublemaker god had decided to voice his thoughts as well.

"That's not the only thing that's commendable about her. She finally started to show some skin too. The tube top is a very nice touch indeed."

He didn't manage to say anything else as the embarrassed goddess gave him a sharp kick, sending him into the nearby pile of debris, before she started for Keiichi's home in order to ask Peorth for something else to wear.

"The Valkyries sure love him," said Urd as Lind walked into the house.

"That's nothing really. He's usually worse than that," replied Thor as he remembered the trickster's past interactions with the warrior goddesses. Most likely he was holding back a bit since he was dealing with Lind. It was nice to see that she had relaxed a bit though. "Okay, let's fix this mess now, shall we?"

"Sure thing," agreed Urd. Keiichi's parents were most likely just minutes away.

Belldandy smiled despite having not participated in the banter. After all, she was used to this and instead joined her sister and their uncle in the repairs.

XXX

Meanwhile, the Gate's impromptu search party had finally reached the center of Nidhogg's subterranean chamber. Indeed, the item they were looking for was right in front of them, carefully placed in a pile of various items that must have fallen into the Pit and brought here by the Infernal Dragon's minions. They could just reach and grab it, but that seemed easy. Way too easy as a matter of fact.

There was apparently no sign of those snakes, which was rather alarming for Hild. Last time they were all over the darn place, but now it was way too qiet and she didn't like it a bit. "Stop, Hagall-chan."

Her subordinate did exactly what she'd been told to do, but couldn't help but wonder what the problem was. The goddess' axe was just a few steps ahead, so what were they waiting for? Not everything had to be so complicated, but on the other hand, Hild-sama had a lot more combat experience than her. 'Who am I kidding? I've never fought against anyone at all... Not unless you count that mortal pet, but that was really against Hild-sama, as he really had no hope otherwise...'

As the blonde demoness stood as still as possible, Hild turned back to check Surt who had apparently not payed much attention to her warnings and was looking right above them. Lowering his gaze to her, he silently gestured to get out of the way. It was sometimes common for the demon warriors to rely in that form of communication in hopes keep a low profile. The Eldjontunn prepared two spells silently, as Hild grabbed the top of Hagall's dress and jumped as far on the right as possible, taking the other demoness with her.

Only as soon as they were both out of the way did the Daimakaicho look up to see what was the problem. Hanging from the tree roots were dozens of snakes, all completely immobile in a ready to strike position and with their fangs exposed. Instead of attacking them head on as was usual for them, they had opted for an ambush. Hild had no doubt that they were all waiting for them to get to the exact center where the axe was. This meant that they must have also realized their goal too. Somehow those things were getting smarter over time, as there was no other possible explanation for their current behavior.

At that exact moment, Surt slammed his right hand on the ground, sending a wave of dark energy towards the center of the room and creating a series of lines on the cavern's floor. Reacting to the sudden change, the snakes all decided to lunge forward in hopes to dispatch any threat. Before they had the chance, though, the lines erupted into a series of very sharp obsidian-like spikes. Falling into a trap themselves, the serpents got impaled but even that was merely a temporary situation. They were gifted with remarkable regenerating powers and it was only a minor setback.

Trying to save as much time as possible, the Eldjotunn pointed his other spell straight at the unsuspecting Ansuz who was staring at the mess in front of her. By the time she noticed anything it was far too late, as the wind spell sent her flying across the narrow path right in the middle of all those obsidian pikes. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Just grab the darn thing and come back!" shouted Surt. "Those things won't stay like that forever!"

Hild had already started to fly towards the exit, dragging Hagall with her as well. The other demoness stood no chance if those things ever got to her. Ansuz wasn't nearly as vulnerable, after all she used to be a Valkyrie as well.

Indeed, the goddess didn't need anyone to tell her twice and began to hover. She did pause for a moment when she noticed that among the stack of all the other items, there were a few other battleaxes. The very same ones that the Fighting Wings used, but what were they doing down here? That could wait for later... Right now she had to move and fast. Flying as fast as it was possibly safe in such a subterranean environment, she passed right next to the demon who was apparently preparing another spell and joined Hild and Hagall who were already in the exit tunnel.

Surt's spell was ready too and by the looks of it, just in time too. As the snakes had already fully healed, they turned their attention to Surt since he was the only member of the party that still remained in the vast chamber. Raising both his hands directly in front of him, the series of red runes had finally completed. "Mega flare!"

For a split second the entire chamber was illuminated with the light of a thousand suns as a tremendous amount of energy was suddenly released. While Nidhogg could care less and hardly even moved in its sleep, its subordinates had no such luck. They immediately turned to ash, breaking down into such small particles that regeneration was impossible. Indeed a new batch from the spring of Hvergelmir emerged, just a few tunnels away from Nidhogg's chamber, ready to take up the position of the deceased ones.

The tunnel system that was connected with Nidhogg's chamber shook as the colossal explosion sent a wave of superheated air and debris. As the two demonesses and the goddess landed briefly to avoid being swept away by the surges of air that rushed to fill the void behind them, Surt had barely managed to catch up.

"All done?" asked Hild, before she picked Hagall once again, much to the blonde's embarrassment.

"Yes, they're dead. But others will most likely take their place. We must get out of here," said the Eldjotunn. "Fighting them here isn't an option."

"Why?" was the only question that Hagall had. The other demon certainly didn't hold back over there, so what was so different now?

"Hagall-chan, the chamber over there is full of Yggdrasil's roots and can absorb nearly anything," explained Hild. "Think of it this way. If we try anything like that, we're going to bury ourselves and they'd just love to keep us company."

"In other words, we have to get out right now," said Ansuz as she turned to see what was suddenly causing noise behind them. "Are they...?"

"Yes. Lovable, persistent buggers, aren't they?" answered Surt while he also took a glance behind them. 'At this rate we won't make it out in time. I wish I didn't have to use this in front of them, but I have little choice.'

"Come forth, Laevateinn!"

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

There are several things I'd like to note for this chapter.

Ithavoll ("splendour-plain") and the hall of Vingolf did exist in Norse mythology and while I changes a few things to make it work with my story, there were similarities. In this story they serve as the locations where the Gods Council and the Goddesses council are located. There are a few reasons for them to have two governing bodies instead of one in the story. Part of that decision was due to the way that Ansuz was introduced in the manga, where Hild stated that the goddess was the representative director of the goddess council. So, I had them have two councils.

Additionally it explains why the parents of the three sisters weren't that much involved in raising them. I'd like to think that it was due to the fact that they were both overworked and not a case of negligence.

Baldr's personality is heavily based on Belldandy's, as he was supposed to be the one that mostly raised her and acted as her teacher too. I do know that Celestin was supposed to be her mentor in the Movie, but he never made an appearance in the manga (and neither he was mentioned). I feel that Belldandy is a role model for the goddesses and the closest character in the Norse myths was Baldr. Plus, he's a family member as well.

Urd's personality has more to do with her mother and her own nature as a hybrid. Her habit of throwing thunders here and there might have something to do with her mentor, who in this story is Thor.

Finally both Baldr and Loki are single in this story, unlike their Norse counterparts. The first mostly because he might be a bit too friendly but is a bit naive when it comes to relationships (again in some aspects like the early depictions of Belldandy in the manga), while the latter suffers from his own reputation of being a troublemaker.


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

"Come forth, Laevateinn!"

A pair of dark feathered wings shot out of Surt's back as a figure started to emerge. The entity had a series of black eerie markings that covered most of its rather pale skin. Bright, fiery blonde hair and a pair of red cat-like eyes added more to its otherwise terrifying appearance. When fully emerged, a spiraling flame covered the lower part of its apparently masculine body.

The others were suddenly a bit confused with the sudden development. Demons often had familiars as personal servants and while most of them had bat-like wings, others had them covered with feathers. Some even deliberately changed their familiar's wing shape and color for vanity purposes. Unlike angels, devils weren't restricted to mirror their bond mate's inner self, so those modifications were possible. Even the gender could be chosen, regardless of the host's actual one and this caused most of them to have a female appearance, since demons often preferred them to be like that. They often claimed that it was for the sake of having the more flashy variety of accessories that was available for the female looking familiars, but gods simply refused to believe this and called them perverts.

'There's something off about this creature...' thought Ansuz while she tried to understand what exactly she was staring at. 'Normally, I would've called it a familiar, but I somehow can't get the idea out of my head that it's an angel. Wait a second... Belldandy had purified a devil before... Could this be the opposite...?' Looking at the demonesses, they also seemed to have no idea of what was going on or they were very good at acting.

"What are you doing, Surt?" asked Hild. "I told you fighting is going to be difficult in these tunnels. Weren't you paying attention?"

"I know that," replied the Eldjotunn calmly. "Any large scale spell will be our doom. So instead I'll have to focus all of my power into a single spot." Putting his arm in front of him, almost as if he was reaching for something, he waited. With a grin on his face, Laevateinn started to glow as the wings on the angel's back began to slowly turn into a crystalline substance. Immediately they started to twist around in a spiral, while the rest of its body transformed into a gemstone. The top most part of the dark helix opened up, forming a Y shaped object that greatly resembled a sword's hilt, with the angel's converted body located at the bottom.

The blade-less sword floated in the expecting hand of Surt and the very moment the Eldjotunn grabbed it, a bright flame erupted and created the missing blade.

The weapon itself was majestic, but for Ansuz, it was terrifying. Getting hold of an angel egg was one thing, but this was far worse than that, since the demon had apparently obtained something that was classified as top secret in Asgard. Only two of them were ever made before they were deemed to dangerous by both the councils and all plans for creating more were abandoned. The first one, Gungnir, had belonged to her late father-in-law and the second, Mjolnir, still served as Thor's angel. It was a wise decision, as the latter was so powerful that her brother-in-law needed a pair of special gloves to safely use Mjolnir whenever it changed into its hammer form.

It was mind boggling how their most secret project had become bonded with this demon and served him. It was feasible that the demons may have somehow gotten their hands on the missing Gungnir and reverted it back into its original state, but it was unlikely. Each angel had some personal characteristics that had nothing to do with its host and this Laevateinn didn't seem to be a re-purposed Gungnir. Could it be that there were more of them? The reports clearly indicated that only two were officially produced, but she couldn't remember if there had been others under development when they canceled the project. In that case, someone must have finished one, before the demons stole it. Considering that it was probably an illegal activity, it was unlikely that they would've reported the theft.

There were rumors that the Intelligence Service of the demons was good, but it still didn't explain why their leader, Skrymir, would hand over such an item to the Eldjotunn. He was the one in charge of Jotunheim and the Frost Division of the demonic forces. In essence, he was one of Surt's primary competitors in the infernal chain of command, so it made absolutely no sense why he'd simply hand over such a prized possession to Surt instead of keeping it for himself.

Another thing was that Hild was equally confused by the looks of it and was currently staring at her subordinate with a raised brow. While the leaders of the other infernal realms had a certain degree of autonomy, they were still under Hild's direct control and thus had to submit reports regularly. Especially for matters of great importance like this one. So, if the Daimakaicho herself didn't know anything, then this was handled outside the normal chain of command.

Surt, however, couldn't care less now as the damage was already done - his superiors had seen his little trump card. Instead, he had to prioritize and focus on the current situation, as some of the new snakes had managed to to get too close to them. A single slice from Laevateinn was more than enough to cut them in two since the sword concentrated all of his power in a single spot. Even better, their wounds continued to burn for a while, making regeneration impossible until the flames went out. One after the other, the snakes were left in pieces, as the group marched through the next set of tunnels that eventually lead them to the Pit.

At least it didn't take long, given that this time they were flying instead of walking. The sword was also a much safer choice compared to most attack spells, as it avoided any collateral damage since it only harmed their pursuers upon direct contact.

"The access shaft is right ahead of us!" shouted Hild over the loud hissing screams of the wounded serpents. "Just a few more seconds and we're safe!"

"But the whole thing is completely open!" objected Ansuz. "They can still follow us all the way to the throne room!"

"Do you really think that we're that stupid?" asked the Daimakaicho, feeling a bit insulted by her goddess friend. "There are multiple blast doors between the bottom of the Pit and the throne room. It's a good thing that before we went into the caverns, I've set the security system to engage as soon as we pass them on our way out. The minions of Nidhogg may be persistent, but they can't break them. They'll have to give up sooner or later."

Indeed, as soon as they shot out of the Pit, the emergency protocols kicked in, shutting the doors one after the other. Dozens of snakes tried to pass, but they were far too late. Despite that, the search party continued their flight without slowing down at all, in order to get as far away from their pursuers as possible. In a few seconds, more than a dozen heavily reinforced shutters separated them from any immediate danger, putting an end to their ordeal.

It had been a hectic and extremely risky operation that even the bravest among them wouldn't like to have to repeat anytime soon. They remained quiet until they'd reached the very top of the access shaft where Niflheim's throne room was located.

The first one to break the silence was Ansuz, who still had trouble accepting the facts of the situation she'd just witnessed. Pointing at Surt, who had just turned Laevateinn back into his original shape, she couldn't help but try to get to the bottom of this. "Hold it right there! Where did you get that angel?"

"Heavens. Don't know all the details and between you and me, I don't care either." Honest as it may have sounded for a demon, the Eldjotunn decided to humor the goddess. It didn't really matter anymore, as the cat was now out of the bag. Going around the subject was only a waste of time anyway.

Turning around to face Hild, the goddess noticed the Daimakaicho's unreadable expression. Most of the time when that happened, it meant a lot of trouble for anyone involved. It was obvious that she wasn't the only one that had a few questions here.

"I would like to know more about that, Surt-kun..." said Hild, as she hit a dangerously low octave. That wasn't a request, but a direct command and one that under no circumstances was meant to be ignored. The Daimakaicho may have a playful personality, but she was the leader of the demons for a reason. Nobody dared to defy her and get away with it, especially when she was serious.

"Ask your roommate... He knows more than me, as a matter of fact." That startled Hild for a moment, before she became very quiet. Seeing that she got his meaning, he turned in order to leave. "Since my job is finished, I'll take my leave."

'Her roommate?' wondered Ansuz. 'What's going on here? I thought that she was living on her own, except her servants, but those probably don't count...'

"I'll decide when your job is over," said Hild. Turning to her second in command, who remained silent during this exchange, she motioned her to come closer. "Hagall-chan, can you take Ansuz to Niflheim's Gate for me? It would be rude to just let her go though the same portal she used before, instead of the official exit. We don't want others to think that we're not good hosts."

Hagall didn't really buy the explanation, but realized that the Daimakaicho wanted to get her and that goddess out of the throne room. Normally she would've tried to object, but given her leader's current mood, it was a much better idea to simply follow the order without further delay. Walking towards Ansuz, she stopped right in front of the goddess and motioned her to follow. "This way."

It was obvious that Asgard's second in command wasn't pleased with this development, but she knew that this was Hild's way of asking her to leave. The situation with the angel was still unresolved, although she doubted that she could do anything more about it at the moment. It was unlikely that the demon was going to give it back without a fight and she wouldn't dare to start something like that in the middle of Niflheim with no backup available.

Just before she stepped out of the room, she heard Hild shouting behind her. "And don't ever come back, you lousy goddess!" While it sounded a pretty harsh thing to say to her friend, the fact that the demoness was also sticking her tongue out in a pretty immature display indicated that she was just being silly.

"Who wants to visit you anyway?!" Ansuz shouted back, sticking out her tongue in imitation of the Daimakaicho.

It was an interesting sight to behold. Two of the most powerful and influential entities in the Cosmos, behaving like little kids. Hagall just silently stared at the exchange while Surt shook his head in a disapproving way. Eventually, Ansuz turned around and followed the blonde demoness to Niflheim's primary Gate room.

As soon as Hild was left alone with the Eldjotunn, she did get serious. "You noticed that this whole mess was the result of sabotage, right?"

"Yes," replied Surt. "The safety nets were cut by a serrated blade in order to let the axe fall all the way to the bottom of the Pit."

"I need to find out who did this."

"That's a job for Skrymir, however," said Surt. "He's the one in charge of the Intelligence Sector, not me."

"We'll have to visit him later," said Hild as she started to walk towards the door as well. "You stay here and make sure that those things down there are gone once the doors open. If not, deal with them."

"Understood," said Surt with a simple nod, before his own curiosity got the better of him. "Um... Where are you going?"

"Who, me?" asked an amused Hild. "Just following your suggestion. I have a few questions to ask a certain... someone. That's all." However as she was about to exit the throne room, she paused for a moment. "Oh! Clean up a little bit since you're staying in here for a while, okay?"

'Clean up?' thought Surt while he inspected the stuff that was left behind from the previous night. Games, cards, several tea cups, bottles of various alcoholic beverages, a table and even two futons were strewn all over the place. 'This mess?! What does she think I am? A butler?'

Still, orders had to be followed and since the nets hadn't been repaired yet, he decided to dump everything in the Pit. After all, let's not have Nidhogg's minions return empty handed to their master. Maybe the infernal dragon would like a brand new tea table, especially now that he burned the interior of his cave with that spell.

XXX

_Castle Utgard, Jotunheim_

The old, even ancient structure stood proud in the barren, frozen land of Jotunheim, the realm of ice. Originally, Niflheim had been completely covered in snow, but after the creation of the Nidhogg Computing Center, the demons had managed to turn their primary home into a much more temperate one. However, as a way of compensation, it caused the mountainous realm of Jotunheim to transform into an arctic environment. There needed to be a balance between the realms, so in order to warm one's climate, another had to become frozen.

Despite that, the realm played a very important role for demons, as it was the closest one to Asgard, compared to any other that was inhabited by them. As such, it was carefully guarded to prevent the gods from ever invading it and for that purpose they had built several defensive structures in the past.

Of course, in this age such things were utterly useless, long abandoned in favor of mobile command bases in the form of floating ships that allowed the demons to monitor their realms. Most of the old fortresses had been scrapped for raw resources, but Castle Utgard had managed to escape such a fate. Instead, it was completely overhauled from the ground up to accommodate the needs of the Intelligence Sector that was stationed there, alongside the Frost Division.

The members of the latter were most commonly referred to as Jotnar and made up a significant portion of the demons' combat divisions. While it sounded strange that the majority of their troops were in a realm other than Niflheim, it was the proximity to Asgard that made this necessary. For the same exact reason, the location was also ideal for the Intelligence Sector, as most of their spying operations were more easily planned and executed.

Some were concerned that this particular realm had two units, which could upset the balance between the other demonic worlds. In reality, Jotunheim was one of the most desolate realms of all, with very little to offer besides its strategic position. That was the only reason that it was sacrificed when Ymir, the first Daimakaicho, decided to thaw Niflheim and in exchange turn Jotunheim in a freezer.

Even the extremely hostile Muspelhim was more valuable due to its rich abundance of minerals. The only one that was completely useless was the unnamed one, nicknamed as the Lifeless Wasteland. There was absolutely nothing of any importance in that realm, no minerals, no life and it was the furthest away from all the rest. Nobody really knew what to do with it, so it remained vacant and even left without a proper name as a joke. The only reason why it wasn't sacrificed instead of Jotunheim was its remote location which could have turned the entire operation of changing Niflheim's climate into an impossible one.

But that was of little importance for those that lived in Jotunheim since they had become accustomed to the climate. Castle Utgard was a busy place under normal circumstances, but with the recent coup, everyone was on their toes. Regardless of who was the Daimakaicho, their primary job was to monitor the activity of the gods and their systems, as well as keeping an eye on the other demons at the same time. That incident threw their schedules in a loop as the chaos that followed was almost too much to handle. Despite that, they have successfully managed to maintain their operational efficiency, something that greatly pleased their leader, Skrymir.

The demon in question was currently sitting in his sparse office, with hardly a piece of furniture present besides his desk and chair. Being paranoid was part of the job and thus he had eliminated all possible hiding places where one could fit any type of surveillance devices. That gave the room an eerie and even intimidating feeling, which was further amplified by the appearance of its owner. The demon was an imposing figure, with long deep red hair, almost the same color as blood, just like his eyes and an overall height that was well above average. He easily stood out from the rest of his subordinates and few of them even wanted to deal with him, unless they had to.

His professionalism, and his habit of carefully analyzing everything, made his workers very nervous as he liked to pick apart their flaws. He was pleased with nothing less than perfection. His complete lack of humor and tolerance for any misbehavior made things even harder for everyone and especially for those that hoped to get higher in the chain of command.

As he was going though the reports from his operative, someone decided to knock on the office's door. Closing the terminals around him, Skrymir decided to just deal with his visitor as soon as possible. "Enter."

The door opened, revealing one his subordinates who was carrying a folder as well as a transparent bag with a knife inside. Last thing he wanted was to have his superior complain that he had somehow contaminated the sample. "Sir! Here's the report you requested. According to the surveillance systems the damage to the throne room's safety nets was clearly intentional. The profile of the cut matches that of a short notched knife. Our records identified the item as one used in the past by Asgard's Fighting Wings as a standard issue combat knife. We searched in our vault and found a weapon that's identical with that particular model. It is a genuine one that was issued during the administration of Daitenkaicho Odin and had fallen into our hands after a battle. Aside from the item that we've enclosed in the bag, there is the fully detailed hard copy of the report, triple encrypted of course."

"Very well," said Skrymir while he inspected the knife. "I will review the folder later, but for now make sure that everything in Castle Utgard is absolutely impeccable."

"We have an inspection, sir?" asked the surprised demon.

"Worse. Daimakaicho Hild-sama will be most likely visiting us in person because of this incident." Skrymir paused for a second to organize his thoughts while his subordinate was getting restless as his superior continued to glare at him. "I want absolutely no mistakes. Understood?"

"Perfectly, sir!"

"Dismissed."

As the demon rushed to the door, he couldn't see the grin on his superior's face. 'It's time to make a call.'

XXX

Repairing the main temple was a simple task considering that three deities were involved in the process. Especially when two of them possessed first class licenses. While they took their time to see if everything was back the way it was supposed to be, it became apparent that something was amiss.

"Where's Loki?" asked Thor. The trickster god was last seen when an embarrassed Lind kicked him into the temple's debris. However, he had somehow managed to disappear and while that was usually a good thing, in this situation it could become problematic.

"Isn't he inside the repaired temple?" asked a confused Urd. "I didn't notice any teleportation spells or other types of portals."

"Me neither," added Belldandy, who was happy that the building had regained its original appearance. Her missing uncle, however, was a matter of concern, as past experiences indicated that leaving Loki on his own wasn't a very good idea.

The sound of approaching bikes cut that discussion short since there was little doubt about the identity of their visitors. The miniature form of Urd had already warned them that Keiichi's family was on their way, so maintaining a semblance of normalcy was the most important thing right now. Easier said than done, especially with all the deities currently present. Not to mention, Loki who was probably hiding somewhere.

As soon as the two bikes came to a stop in front of the temple's stairs, another vehicle approached and parked right next to them. It was Takano's Datsun, a strange choice for a car, considering that it was a model that was most certainly designed as a racer and not for everyday use. Megumi and Keima, who had gotten off their bikes, joined her at the bottom of the staircase, before they started for the temple itself.

"Hmm... This place looks exactly the same..." said Megumi. "There was nothing strange on the way here as well. What was that sound then?"

"I'm afraid that I have no idea," replied Keima. "But whatever that was, it's not particularly important right now."

"Keima-kun is right, Megumi," said Takano. "Since nothing happened, let's enjoy our visit, right?"

"Alright... You both win..." Megumi relented with a defeated sigh. Maybe she was just overreacting about the whole situation, although there were a few rather weird situations during the last few years. Most of the time she brushed it off, thinking it was all in her head, but it was certainly bizarre.

Once they'd reached the top of the staircase, the group encountered Belldandy who was already waiting for them.

"Hello, everyone!" she beamed while offering a bow to them. "I'm glad that you decided to drop by for a visit. You too Megumi. I suppose that Keiichi is already on his way?"

"Yes, Kei-chan was supposed to follow us, so he's likely to come soon," replied Megumi.

"That's good," said Belldandy. She did briefly considered how to address her new in-laws, considering that they both liked to be called by their names, instead of what they considered to be titles. "Keima-san, Takano-san, please, let's go inside. I've got some tea ready for all of us."

The couple nodded and followed the goddess towards the house. They did wave at Urd who was standing right next to the main temple, although Keima became a bit pale as soon as he spotted her. He still had issues being around women. Most people were afraid of creepy insects, high places, darkness and other things like that. Gynophobia, as it was called, isn't nearly as common as those other ones, but apparently Keima was suffering from a pretty serious case of that. He was terrified from the mere thought of being next to a woman, with the only real exceptions being his wife and his daughter.

Urd waved back at them, although she wondered why the others paid so little attention to them. Obviously they'd met her, but Thor was clearly someone they never saw before. 'Come to think of it, he's still dressed in that old combat uniform... I'd forgotten about that...' Humans were certainly going to give him some odd looks, given his outlandish choice for clothes. Looking beside herself, she was about to tell him to change into something else, only to realize that he was nowhere to be seen. "Uncle?"

"I'm right behind you, Urd," said Thor. He had turned himself into a miniature version and was using his niece as a cover. "I think that keeping a low profile is better in a situation like this. There are less questions involved and that's a good thing."

The goddess of the past was apparently not paying too much attention to what he was saying. Instead, she was giving him the same look that children had whenever they saw a puppy. "Umm... Urd?"

"How cute!" said the overly enthusiastic goddess of the past. "I've got a mini god of thunder!"

"Act your age! You're not a little girl anymore!" shouted Thor, only to be completely ignored as the goddess grabbed him. "Urd..."

She was either not paying attention or deliberately ignored him, while looking at her outfit. "Hmm... I don't seem to have any pocket that's big enough to fit you. So... how are we going to do this?"

"Urd, if you try to pull this one on me again..." warned Thor, but his niece obviously had other ideas. As soon as she reached to tug the front of her dress, the god of thunder decided that enough was enough and raised one of his currently miniature hands skywards. "I summon thee! Lightning!"

Answering to his command, thunder descended from the heavens, striking his intended target.

XXX

Lind watched Peorth and Laguz who were both currently engaged in a game involving a tower made out of wooden pieces. All of them had retreated to the guest room, since Keiichi's parents were right outside and it would've been for the best if they stayed out of the way. At least the goddess of the roses had changed Lind's pants with a new pair that was a few times larger and therefore a lot more comfortable to move.

Skuld was also present in the room as well, but was currently reading her favorite manga. She didn't have the opportunity to finish it yesterday with all the chaos that was going on. Personally, she wanted to go back to making more bombs, but decided to wait until their latest mortal visitors have left.

Lind had seen some of those mangas that Peorth had 'borrowed' from the young goddess, but never got very interested in them. On the other hand, she had no idea what the point of the others' game was, as she hadn't seen anything like it before. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Oh! It's rather simple," said Peorth as she turned to her friend. "All you have to do is to remove one piece at a time without causing the tower to collapse. No magic is allowed, of course, just your hands. Want to try?"

"Is that what you've been doing so far?" asked Lind, as she wondered what they found so entertaining in such an activity.

"Well, I was watching TV in the living room, but we decided that it was for the best to retreat here for the time being," said Laguz, while she removed another piece from the tower.

"You mean that you were hogging the TV all for yourself," pouted Peorth. The blonde goddess was indeed transfixed with the various shows and didn't leave her to watch anything at all. "Such avarice is not fitting for a goddess."

"But it's the first time that I've ever watched TV!" objected Laguz. "I just wanted to see what it was all about..."

'Great, another competitor... As if Urd and Skuld weren't enough to deal with...' thought Peorth with a sigh. She decided to drop the subject, though. After all, there were other ways to have entertain herself on Earth and speaking of that... "Lind are you going to play or not?"

The Valkyrie thought about it, but realized that there weren't many other things to do while they were trying to stay out of the way. "Fine. Seems that we have to wait for a while, so I'll join you."

The instant that the Valkyrie sat right next to them, a loud clap of thunder suddenly erupted outside, shaking the entire house. As a result of that, the precariously balanced wooden tower in front of them collapsed into a pile of small pieces.

"Umm... in this case, who lost?" asked Lind as she looked around the table for answers.

"Urd," said Skuld as she closed her Dobon manga. At least, she had finally managed to finish the latest volume. With that done, it was probably the best to join the other goddesses as well. "Anyone want to play Uno?"

XXX

"Thunder? What's going on here?" asked Megumi. She was rather doubtful of Keiichi's words earlier when he claimed that the previous explosion had been thunder, but this time she was absolutely certain that such was the case.

"I must admit that it's very strange weather," said Keima, as he peered to look outside. He and his wife had just entered the house when the loud noise startled them all. Except for his daughter-in-law who didn't seem to be fazed at all.

Noticing that as well, Takano decided to find more about Nekomi's strange weather patterns. "Does this happen often?"

"Yes, we have thunder falling pretty frequently," replied Belldandy, although the whole truth was that most of them were caused by her big sister, who used them as her favorite weapon.

Megumi was about to argue, but her parents had apparently accepted Belldandy's explanation since they both headed back into the house. 'Am I the only one who thinks that something strange is going on?'

The youngest Morisato joined the rest of her family after a short pause, allowing Urd and a miniature Thor to peer over the short fence that separated the main temple and the house. The goddess of the past was completely covered in soot as her uncle decided that she needed some punishment for her misbehavior.

"So much for keeping a low profile," complained Urd as she gave a rather pointed look at the god of thunder who stubbornly glared her back.

"Tell me that it's my fault now..." said Thor. "What in Asgard's name were you thinking when you decided to pull that prank on me? Besides, you've done this before in the past and it didn't work very well for you then. What made you think it was going to be any different now?"

"I was much younger at that point! Now I'm a lot more cozy. Besides, it was a joke," complained Urd. "No need to drop the hammer at the first opportunity."

The god simply shook his head as he let a long sigh. She was a troublemaker back then and by the looks of it she still was. Perhaps even to the point where it was no longer funny. "Hey! If I had dropped a hammer, then nothing in this region would've been left intact. I'm not that violent!"

"Urd!" shouted a familiar voice from the direction of the temple's staircase, causing the two celestials to turn towards the newcomer. "What was that?!"

"Oh, Keiichi!" said Urd as she waved at him, but the young man wasn't very pleased with her at the moment.

"What was that thunder for? My parents and Megumi are here, judging by the parked vehicles outside. They could suspect something is off," complained Keiichi. To be honest, he was already pretty panicked and anything out of place was enough to make him freak out even more It was already hard that he had to answer the most obvious questions that his parents must have and adding more to the list didn't sound like a nice idea.

"That was me, actually."

Turning to the side, Keiichi noticed a small god that he had somehow missed when he rushed to greet Urd. He seemed an unfamiliar face and Keiichi was certain that he'd never seen him before. But Thor certainly recognized the short mortal that stood before him. He was the one from Loki's photograph, the one that somehow managed to pass the Judgement Gate with Belldandy and became her husband.

Thor decided to assume his original size, causing the mortal to crane his neck upwards to meet the god's gaze. While not exactly as tall Tamiya or Otaki, the red haired god was easily more intimidating than both of them, causing Keiichi to stammer. "H-hello. I'm M-Morisato Keiichi."

"God first class, first category, unlimited license, Thor." Extending his hand in a gesture that was frequently used by the mortals as a greeting, he waited until the young mechanic realized that the god wanted to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you," said Keiichi as he returned the gesture. "Um... are you a friend of Urd's?"

"No, I'm her uncle," replied Thor. "In other words, we're family."

For a moment Keiichi was confused about that bit of information, since this god didn't really look as old as he would have expected. But then again, he was an immortal and just like Hild, appearance had no meaning for such beings. Even more, if what he had learned in Niflheim was true, then their forms were not their actual ones too. Shaking those thoughts out of his mind, he decided to deal with the situation right now. "I have to go now. My family decided to drop by for a visit and I need to be in the house, so..."

"Go," said the god of thunder. "I can wait outside. No need for raising more questions; I'll talk with you later."

"OK, later then," said Keiichi and turned around to head back into the house.

Turning to Urd, Thor remembered something. "Do you think that we should've told him about Loki? Who knows what he's doing."

"Nah... Although, it's a good idea to start looking for him," said Urd. "With so many goddesses around, he's bound to run into one of them."

"Now that you mention it, you're right..." said Thor with a chuckle. "Talk about a full house."

Not a second later, a series of runes materialized high up in the sky, a clear indication that Gate was about to transfer someone on Earth.

"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" groaned Urd as she and Thor stared at the opening portal.

"Sorry. I couldn't help it..."

XXX

If there was something that one could say about the Daimakaicho's house, then 'gigantic' would be very high on the list. It was an entire complex that consisted of several interconnected buildings. Each served a specific purpose, just like most rooms did in normal houses, but in this case the scale was completely different. The garden, for instance, was nearly as big as an entire park on its own.

Of course, such a place required a lot of attention, and for that reason, Hild employed dozens of housemaids to keep everything under control. It was necessary since she was the leader of Niflheim and she had to maintain some standards.

While there was a lot of activity in the building, Hild's inner chambers were completely off limits to even the vast majority of her servants. They were nearly as extensive as a normal house and only a few selected ones had the privilege to go into there, and even then, only on special occasions.

Despite that, this was the destination of the Daimakaicho, who was greeted by most of her servants as soon as she entered the complex. Security was a significant issue and some of those maids were in fact highly trained warriors, completely outside any other chain of command, only taking orders by Hild herself.

A minute or two later, the leader of Niflheim stood before one of the few guest rooms that she had in her own chambers. Most of them were located in a separate building, but for special guests, that simply wouldn't do. Especially if the identity of said visitors had to remain a secret and this one in particular was most likely one of the biggest.

Knocking on the door to announce herself, she entered the room and immediately found who she was looking for. Sitting in a comfortable chair was a man with silver hair and an appearance as ageless as any divine or infernal being. One thing was obvious about him, though. His sigils had the same blue color as with any other god. Although this particular one was supposed to be missing in action or even dead, according to some. Yet he was alive and currently reading through a book with great interest.

Hild really didn't want to deal with him on a typical day, but she had some questions and he was the most likely person who could answer them. The old god was among the most knowledgeable Asgardians in existence, after all. Walking up to him, he finally noticed her and put the book down next to him.

"I see that you enjoyed the copy of the Lord of the Rings I got for you," said Hild as she crossed her arms.

"Indeed..." said the silver haired god as he nodded. "The mortals seem to come up with some interesting concepts once in a while. There was even a character that was loosely based on me."

"Well, that's nice, but to be honest, I'm not here to discuss literature. I have a few questions..."

The god smiled as he leaned back into the chair. "Then please ask them, my daughter."

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

There are several things I'd like to note for this chapter.

Laevateinn is the name of Surt's flaming sword in Norse mythology, while in this case it's an angel that came to Surt's possession. However, this isn't a generic angel, but one of the very few of its kind, a living weapon so to speak.

The other angel weapons are Mjolnir and Gungnir. I did want to use those two as the angels of their respective gods, but at the same time, I also wanted them to have them as weapons and in the end came up with this solution as a compromise.

Now it should be noted that Jotunheim is the land of the Frost and Rock giants (Jotun) in Norse myths, but not actually a frozen realm. That was Niflheim as a matter of fact. In AMG we get a glimpse of what Niflheim was like and I wouldn't call that as a frozen world. The modifications to their realms was another compromise on my part.

Utgard was indeed an area in Jotunheim and translates as "Outyards" and includes a stronghold of the giants. Also, Srymir is indeed associated with it, during a short story when Thor and Loki run into him.

Hild's mansion is a massive complex all by itself, covering a surface area that could fit a few city blocks. So, her inner chambers are the same size as an entire normal house.

I would also want to mention that one of Thor's lines ("Talk about a full house") was a suggestion from Gamera68, an author of AMG stories (currently working on his ongoing Rosario + Vampire story, "A Confession and a Vampire: Reboot").

Speaking of suggestions, the idea about Lind having to choose one from the different types of bacon in chapter 7 originated from HotelKatz, in a discussion thread, over at the Goddess Relief site. Can't believe I missed to mention it on the author's notes in chapter 7.

Finally, me, HotelKatz and IdiAmeanDada have already finished the second chapter for the "Ah! My Star Trek" crossover story and the third is mostly ready as well. For more details about that project and the people involved in it, please check the info on my profile.


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

The god smiled as he leaned back into the chair. "Then please ask them, my daughter."

"You still insist on calling me that, even if it means nothing anymore," said Hild as she rolled her eyes. "I really don't like when people try to patronize me..."

The god remained silent for a few seconds, trying to avoid an argument. It was unfortunate, he knew, but unlike his son, he wasn't that willing to give up on that failed marriage. While the Gate's decision for them seemed final, he was too stubborn to accept it, even after the spell that Hild put on herself in order to meet with Tyr once more. Despite his ageless appearance, he was an old god and the ancient traditions were more important to him than some of the recent laws. That was perhaps one of the things he shared with his firstborn son, Thor.

Hild had gone through that conversation far too many times in the past. She appreciated that her former father-in-law didn't want to acknowledge the results of the Judgment Gate, but at the same time it didn't change a thing. Her ex-husband was now with a goddess and that was all that mattered. At least she happened to be Ansuz, as Hild would've been infuriated if anyone else got to take her position. Still, Odin's opinion hardly made her happier. Well, there were instances when it felt good that he still treated her like a daughter, but having seen the Judgment Gate again, brought some bad memories back to her.

Noticing that she started to become tense, Odin readjusted the visor that was currently covering his right eye. For a moment it seemed as he was reading something through the dark glass, before he turned his attention back to the demoness. "You're still the Daimakaicho as it seems. At least nobody lost their lives this time around."

"That was Surt's doing! I told him to be discreet about it, but he never listens!" objected Hild. That was the truth. after all. She had given her former lieutenant explicit orders to avoid any unnecessary deaths during the previous takeover. He made a massacre instead, with half the previous demonic council incinerated and those that remained were too afraid of the Eldjotunn to upset him in any way. Hild shook her head; it wasn't the right way to earn her people's respect. Not that it had mattered much: the previous Daimakaicho and his council weren't all that popular.

Aside from that incident, her remaining term as a Daimakaicho had been a relatively peaceful one. Well, the whole doublet system had been an extremely controversial subject, though in the end everyone came to appreciate its benefits, as they no longer needed to fear for their lives since the use of lethal force was strictly prohibited. It was those successes that eventually made her popular among the vast majority of her subjects. Others had tried some really aggressive methods to gain reputation, only to start up wars with the gods as a result. Hild was the only Daimakaicho that had accomplished much with absolutely minimal loss of life on the demons' side.

"No complaints from me; Fafnir was a really annoying Daimakaicho. Wish I was there when that kid booted him from the throne room," laughed the god. He personally despised that greedy demon with a passion since his nearsighted practices were far worse compared to what Hagall attempted to do just a day earlier. At least the latter hadn't killed anyone in the whole incident, unlike Fafnir who never really cared as long as it was profitable.

"Well... I must admit that begging for his life was somewhat funny." It wasn't every day when someone as vain as her predecessor was reduced to a crying wreck while trying to hide behind her. Surt may have gone a bit too far, but at least it gave the others an idea of what could happen to those who crossed her. "I didn't come here to talk about my position though..."

Before she even had the chance to complete her sentence, Odin interrupted her. "You want to know about Laevateinn, right? Poor Ansuz had a such a hard time trying to understand what happened back there, didn't she?"

"You've been using the security feed again?!" Hild shouted as the god had a bad habit of accessing information that wasn't meant for him. "How did you break into it this time?" added the Daimakaicho with a sigh.

"Oh! That's really simple really," said a smiling Odin. "When Hagall took your position, the surveillance system's password was reset back to the default one. She most likely had forgotten about that little detail and left it like that, something that you have also failed to do as well."

Hild pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes in annoyance. It was a stupid mistake, but one that could be easily corrected. She made a mental note to modify the system to avoid any similar issues in the future. At least the god didn't manage to gain access to anything that was really sensitive. The surveillance system was one of the least important part of Niflheim's security measures. "At least you know what happened."

"Indeed. I just wonder how Tyr manages to sleep next to her, though. Those winglets can be hard to deal with, if they actually managed to wake you up. Most of the time you sleep like a log..."

"My sleeping habits are none of your business!" shouted an embarrassed Hild. "Besides... how dare you spy on _me_! The Daimakaicho herself!"

"I do no such thing. It just takes forever until you turn off that alarm clock of yours every morning. Just an elementary deduction, my daughter."

The demoness had had enough of this nonsense. Turning around, she marched to the door and was just about to leave the impudent god alone before she paused. Smirking, she realized what was going on here. Changing her mind, Hild hovered back to the god, who in the meanwhile, had returned to his book. "You almost got me." Floating right in front of his face, she glared as her eyes started to glow bright red, while her pupils became like a cat's. "I'll give you some credit for nearly fooling me into leaving. You were expecting that if you were annoying enough you could get me to go away; it didn't work this time. Now cough it up! What was that angel?"

Odin set the book aside once again. He had indeed planned to make his daughter-in-law leave without having to answer anything. While she was family to him, she was a demon as well, and some things had to remain a secret. Still, he had depended in her hospitality for a long time already. Fighting over this would certainly cause him more than enough problems.

Taking a deep breath he decided to get this over with. "Where should I start? You know about the Angelic Evolution Project?"

"I've heard of it," said Hild. "It was your effort to create a militarized version of those feather brains. It was supposedly canceled after Asgard's two Councils deemed the results as dangerous."

"Indeed. If anyone with insufficient control of themselves ever attempted to bond with an evolved angel, they would most certainly lose their sanity or even their life. As you may suspect, I wouldn't take no for an answer on such matters and the councils' cheerleaders weren't going to tell me how to run the place." Odin was not a huge fan of how the Councils had always tried to keep control of everything in Asgard, so he often antagonized them at every given opportunity.

They may have had the advantage of numbers, but he had the Fighting Wings under his direct control. The former Daitenkaicho had even implied at certain times that if they pushed things too far, he was more than willing to repay the favor. "You won't win a war by hiding behind others and making it their problem. I was willing to take risks for it and had the first of those angels for myself, with the second given to my own firstborn. If I hadn't enough confidence, then I would've never done that. They always complained, no matter what the subject was, and this particular one was no exception. Eventually, the project had to be abandoned but not before I managed to make one more of those angels. Of course that happened off the record and under a non disclosure agreement."

It took Hild a few moments to process all that information. She was always curious why the gods had abandoned those more powerful angels and by the looks of it, there was a good reason. Unlike her former father-in-law, she would've never risked her life to bond with such a being, regardless of any advantage she might have gotten in the process. There were a lot of questions she wanted to ask, but it was doubtful that the god would answer them all. But at the very least there was something that Hild needed to know more than anything else. "That's interesting... However, I must admit that this doesn't explain how the angel ended up in Surt's possession."

"It's simple really..." said Odin. "I gave him that angel egg."

"What?! Why?!" That was the last thing that Hild might have expected from the god. She was considering, Odin may have lost the egg during that... incident a long time ago, when she pulled him out of Nidhogg's domain. To give that angel willingly to a demon was something that she found very hard to believe.

"Responsibility, I guess. I may be a god, but the power balance of Niflheim is not something that doesn't concern me. The doublet system is the only thing that allows our realms to coexist without any serious conflicts for the first time in our history." Odin paused to consider how to phrase the next part as he feared that this could easily end up in a heated argument with his former daughter-in-law. "Having only one major supporter for the system wasn't a good idea. Especially since you had thought that it was a good idea to involve yourself with one of my sons. I needed a contingency plan just in case you happened to lose your position. There weren't enough demons to willingly follow your ideas for bringing an end to conflict. That student of yours, Surt, was an exception. So I offered him the angel to make sure that he was going to be your likely successor in case something happened during those early days as the doublet system was under development."

"I suppose you hadn't told him about the possible side effects from bonding with that angel?" Hild was almost certain that even Surt would've never agreed to those terms. He may have been irrational at times, but she doubted that he was going to risk his life for something like that.

"No, I've told him actually. You just refuse to give him credit," said Odin with a shake of his head. "He's no longer a kid and you know it. Even then, you still treat him like one."

Hild scoffed as she had no intention to get lectured on how to deal with her former pupil. She had learned enough but she had to admit that she was still curious. "Say... Who were you planning to give that angel originally? I mean, when you first decided to keep it?"

"Not Tyr, if that's what you're trying to ask me," replied Odin. "I'm afraid that this bit of information will have to remain undisclosed for the time being."

"Very well," said Hild. She had learned what she originally wanted to know, so trying to be greedy wasn't the best of ideas. Instead, there was other business she had to take care of. Turning around, Hild started to walk towards the door before she paused as she was about to leave. "Oh! By the way... the Judgement Gate fell In the Pit, so we had to retrieve it."

Odin remained silent for a few seconds, before he reached for his book once again. "I see... It's a pity that the infernal dragon wasn't in the mood for a midnight snack..."

"Yes, I thought so." Letting out a sigh, Hild opened the door. "I had to retrieve it. Otherwise, Ansuz would've accused that I was the one responsible for it. Well, I have places to go, demons to see... so later."

"Later." Odin was once again left alone with his book as the only form of entertainment. Although that was about to change soon enough. After waiting for all this time, he felt that it was the perfect moment to take some action. "Huginn! Muninn! Come forth!"

Two portals opened, allowing a pair of crows to emerge, obeying their master's summon. Both birds were very plain in appearance but in fact were both familiars, Odin's personal spies who roamed the various worlds as his eyes and ears. But it had been quite a while since Odin had last sent them on an actual mission and both were very eager to finally have the opportunity to do some spying again.

"Go to Midgard. One of my granddaughters just got married to a mortal. Find out more about this."

Huginn and Muninn nodded before disappearing into the ether and off towards their destination. Odin thought that it was about time to see who this mortal was, especially now that had become the latest addition to his family. 'Your wish may have been a joke, but let's see if you're one as well. For your own sake, as well as Belldandy's, I hope that you're not...'

The god finally returned to his book although he was certainly no longer bored. Finally, he had found something that was truly interesting. He only hoped that the boy would meet his expectations.

XXX

"This is bad! Really bad!"

High above the Tariki Hongan temple, the Gate was already opening up to send someone through. That was by no means a problem if it was any other day, but right now, Keiichi's family was just inside the house and it was extremely unlikely that they wouldn't notice the transfer.

"You don't have to worry that much, kid," said Thor. Unlike him, Urd was clearly starting to panic which was quite a sight as he hadn't seen her losing her cool that often. "If you keep making that face, you'll get wrinkles."

"But they'll definitely notice this!" argued the goddess of the past. "I don't think it's the best moment to tell them that we're immortals. Not that there will be a perfect opportunity at any point... but... we have to postpone it."

"Yeah right... Humans aren't the smartest beings in existence, you know. At one point they even thought that the world was flat." Thor paused and took a glance at his surroundings. Most of the temple grounds provided little to no hiding places for what he had in mind. The nearby forest, however, was ideal. "Listen, the best course of action is to intercept whoever passes and take them to the forest. Okay?"

Urd doubted that this was the perfect approach, but couldn't think anything better given the limited amount of time they had at their disposal. "Fine."

The moment that the figure had fully materialized and started to descend towards the ground, they both lunged, catching the unsuspecting god and preventing him from arriving right outside the house.

XXX

"Did you hear that?" asked Megumi. Looking behind her, she tried to see what was going on outside but the closed door panels might as well have been concrete. They did, however, offer very little in terms of soundproofing and the mysterious noise that was followed by a loud thud certainly captured her attention. 'Here we go again with the random weirdness... And like before, nobody is going to find it strange...'

Indeed, both her parents were currently enjoying their tea and her brother was attempting to do the same, though he was clearly too tense to savor anything. While suspicious, his behavior was much more likely due to the fact that he would soon have to come up with an excuse that would explain why nobody was invited to his wedding. The youngest Morisato certainly didn't want to be in his shoes right now.

Belldandy had already volunteered to prepare something for everyone but her in-laws politely declined the offer. They claimed that they had already eaten something on their way here and having her around was better since they weren't going to stay for too long. It would have been a shame if Belldandy spent most of the time in the kitchen instead of sitting there with them.

"So..." started Takano, breaking the silence in the room. "It's kind of funny that we happened to visit you today, Keiichi. We wanted to use your birthday as an opportunity to visit you and Belldandy. It was meant to be a surprise too, although we ended up being the ones who got one in the end."

"Y-Yeah, funny how things turn out sometimes, right?" Keiichi was still a bit uncomfortable, as he wasn't the most creative person when it came to excuses. It's not that he couldn't lie about it, but he worried that Takano was going to see though something like that, making things far worse. The only thing that he had to work with was his parents' assumption that he had run out of money and avoided a costly wedding. However, with Belldandy right next to him, it was extremely risky to try that, as the goddess wouldn't lie and if either of them asked her, it was over.

Belldandy wanted to say something to help Keiichi, but at the same time, she didn't know how to avoid anything that would reveal too much and put her husband in a more difficult situation than he was currently in. She nearly jumped when she felt someone tugging at her dress. Carefully looking next to her, she spotted a miniature version of her uncle, Loki, who was currently hiding under the low table while holding a piece of paper with something written on it.

_'Read this and just play along. Take the note on your lap and read the lines while you take a few sips from your teacup. They won't find it suspicious that you look downwards when you do that.'_

"Still, wasn't it a bit too sudden?" Taking a few moments to observe her son, she wondered why Keiichi would hurry so much to get married. They appeared to be a sweet couple when they visited them some time ago, but she still doubted that they just decided to rush things like that.

"Actually, it was my family that suggested we get married. It's unusual for someone like myself to live with a man without getting my mother's explicit permission." Belldandy noticed that the others were staring back at her in amazement as they hadn't expected her to suddenly step in. Especially Keiichi, who had such a shocked and silly expression that it almost made her giggle. She managed to maintain her composure before she continued with the note. "We... just never did that for all this time and well..."

"Um... So your parents knew nothing?" asked Keima, who had been relatively quiet for some time. It was partially because he feared that his wife was still upset about the incident with the vase, although he thought that this was something that wasn't important right now. He was rather surprised that his son had actually forgotten to tell Belldandy's parents about their relationship.

"They knew, but at the same time, Keiichi had never asked them for permission in order to become my boyfriend," said the goddess of the present as she read another line from the paper. "Now that I think about it, he never even talked to my mother before yesterday."

Keima shook his head as he turned to face his son. "You're actually very lucky, Keiichi. Given the circumstances, her parents could have been a lot more negative towards you."

"That's right. After all those years, you never even called them?" asked Takano. "We may have given you and Megumi a lot of independence early on, but not every family does that. In fact, a lot of them would have some serious issues if their daughter was living with a man and he never even asked them for their permission. It may sound a bit old fashioned, but I'll have to agree with Keiima-kun. You were very lucky that they didn't ask Belldandy to come back home. Well, I guess this explains the rushed wedding."

Keiichi didn't know where Belldandy got the idea to lead them along like that, but at the moment he wasn't going to complain. That was a plausible excuse and his parents seemed to have bought it. "Sorry, I never thought it would become such an issue."

Takano considered her son's situation, but no matter his mistakes, the hard part was likely over and there were other topics to talk about. "Well, it must've been hard for you to do all that in such short notice, but if you don't mind me asking, what are are your plans right now?"

"My plans?" wondered Keiichi. In all honesty, he hadn't really thought much about it. Not that he had the chance, as one thing happened after the other. Whether it was a strange incident or somebody suddenly dropping by for a visit, Keiichi had little time to consider his future. At least, not yet.

Noticing her son's expression, Takano tried to clarify what she actually meant by that. "I'm not talking about anything long term here, just what you plan on intending to do in the next few days. A trip perhaps?"

Keiichi got the meaning behind that last bit. She wanted to know about whether the newlyweds would go on a honeymoon or not. Most likely because his mother was under the assumption that he had no money left at the moment. Truth to be told, he couldn't afford something like that, but unless he was wrong, Sayoko had just given them a pair of airplane tickets. Well, he still had to convince Chihiro to give them a few extra days of leave if he intended to do this, but that was something he could do later. "We're going to Hawaii, since we already got a pair of tickets as a wedding present."

"You must have some really good friends, Keiichi," said Keima. After all, those tickets weren't exactly cheap.

'Sayoko? Yeah, right...' thought Keiichi, although it was for the best to refrain from saying anything about her. Perhaps now that they had graduated, the heiress of the Mishima Group had decided to forget about the past and that was why she bought those tickets. Either way, it was indeed a convenient gift. "Well... What can I say...it was a really thoughtful present..."

"I would like..." started Belldandy, only to pause abruptly when she realized that the next line in her paper was a request and not something that she was supposed to say. "Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to say that... Anyone want some more cookies with their tea?" As the goddess served a few more of her delicious home made snacks, she managed to pass one to her uncle while the others weren't watching.

Although, Keiichi would have sworn that he heard a crunching sound coming from under the table, he quickly dismissed it as nothing important. He was probably getting paranoid from all that stress lately and needed to relax a bit.

XXX

"Oof..." Baldr had been rather careless. Moments ago he passed through the Gate, only to fall victim of an ambush by what seemed to be a goddess. He couldn't see anything. His captor had pressed herself against him in such a way that ensured that. He had a few goddesses try to get his attention before, but this simply ridiculous. 'Honestly... what do they teach them these days? Is this what passes as courtship now? What happened to a good old fashioned exchange of diaries?'

"Gotcha! You almost got through."

The deeply embarrassed god was still trying to get away but was too afraid to actually touch whoever had caught him. That voice, however, sounded awfully familiar. "Urd?!"

"Were you expecting somebody else?" said the goddess in question while smirking down at the youngest of her uncles. The poor god was a bit too easy to tease at times, just like Keiichi.

"No! I was supposed to bring a package here before you tackled me. And you should stop doing that, Urd. You're too old to do that routine with me. After all, I'm not even strong enough to stop you anymore," complained the god of light. While he possessed a first class license, his niece was already too much to handle without any magical assistance, even though she was a second class goddess.

"What package?" asked Urd. The god certainly wasn't carrying anything at the moment.

"Oh no! I must've dropped it when you collided with me!"

"Is this what you're looking for?" The newcomer caused both of them to turn to him, as he stood nearby with the missing item in his hands.

"Thor, oniisama! You found it!" Baldr was happy to see his eldest brother but the fact that he had also safely retrieved the little box made it even better.

"Nah... It actually found me on its own," grumbled the god of thunder. Not a moment ago, he was laughing at the sight of Urd tackling his brother, when that darn thing fell straight on his head. It was hardly enough to bother him, but Thor didn't like when he suddenly became the receiving end of a joke. At least they didn't see that.

"Oh dear! Oh dear! I'm going to be late." Taking the package from his brother's hands, Baldr started to head towards the house. "So I'd better get..."

He was interrupted by Urd, who managed to grab him before he left their company. "Not so fast, Mr. White Rabbit! Keiichi's parents are still in there and we'd better keep a low profile for the time being. Besides what's the hurry? They're not going anywhere."

"But if both of you are here, then who's with Loki?" countered the god of light. "I was told that our other brother was here as well. Are the others keeping him company?"

It took both Urd and Thor a moment to realize something extremely important. "We totally forgot about him!" they both shouted at the same time, before they rushed back at the house, dragging the other god behind them.

"I can walk, you know!"

XXX

Keiichi had finally managed to relax a bit now that the hardest part was over. At least he wasn't going to get disowned for the whole incident, which was a good thing. While he was fairly independent and not attached to his parents, it was still good to know that his relationship with them wasn't ruined. It would've been really hard if he had to explain everything to them. Particularly with Megumi, who was visiting them often and yet was left in the dark for years.

Sometimes Keiichi wondered if that was the best course of action. After all, Megumi would probably figure things out one way or another and it wouldn't be pretty. Especially since she'd be disappointed with the lack of trust on his part. She wasn't like his friends who would try to come up with some crazy scheme if they knew about Belldandy's true nature. They weren't bad people, of course, just a bit eccentric at times. Megumi on the other hand wasn't like them at all, so it was possible that his fears were ungrounded. Perhaps he needed to talk with Belldandy about this at some point, but not now. He'd had to deal with quite a few tricky situations lately and adding more onto his plate would simply be pushing his luck.

In the meanwhile, his mother had unsuccessfully attempted to find anything about his sister's love life. It was a touchy subject as he remembered and Megumi had somehow managed to avoid it entirely.

Seeing this, Takano decided that it was about time to go. "Well, I'm sure everyone is having a great time, but we really should be going back home."

"Already? You've just gotten here. Wouldn't you want to stay for a bit longer?" asked Belldandy, even though that could possibly cause some problems for Keiichi. As a matter of fact, Keiichi tried to imitate her concerned look, but she knew that he was faking it to a certain degree. There were too many celestials around and that could lead to trouble.

"I'm afraid so," agreed Keima. "It takes a lot of time to travel all the way to our town, so it would be for the best to start early. We have a shop to attend to, I'm afraid. Keeping it closed can result in many lost opportunities for us."

"Don't worry, we can keep in touch, Keiichi," added his mother. "We also owe you a gift, as Keiima-kun have spent our money on a business related purchase. But it might be for the best. We would've gotten you a birthday present, but this is a much bigger occasion."

"Thank you both," said Keiichi.

"Yes, we thank you for the visit," said Belldandy while she offered them a small bow. "I'm very sorry that we only had tea and cookies to offer you."

"It was our pleasure, really," said Takano. She and her husband got up and headed for the door, causing the others to follow them as well.

That left the god of mischief alone in the room. Grabbing the opportunity, he claimed the rest of the cookies for himself. Seconds later, he was joined by another miniature version of him that appeared out of the floor while wearing a wide grin on his face. Reclaiming the other mini-Loki, he was extremely pleased with how everything had worked out so well. Nobody noticed anything and he had the perfect alibi as he was supposedly here with Belldandy the whole time.

'It's so easy I even scare myself sometimes.'

XXX

Outside the newlyweds were having a last minute chat with Keima and Takano. Figuring it would be safe enough to venture out, the many goddesses who'd been hiding decided to make their appearance. Or at least the ones who Keiichi's parents had seen before.

Urd was upset that they barely had any time to explain the situation with the missing Loki to the others, but either way, they couldn't start searching the house without making a commotion. As soon as the mortals departed, he was going to regret playing hide and seek with her.

Skuld was also upset but it was mostly due to the fact that she was about to win Uno they were having before they had to get out for 'socializing' reasons. She only needed one more turn before she got them. 'Five more minutes! I just needed five more minutes! Oh, well... I'll get them again later. After all, only Peorth really knew the game and she's not good at all. He he he... If they keep up like this, then the TV is all mine. Urd coul be a problem though.'

The other two goddesses watched the mortal couple from a greater distance as Keima was a bit too scared to get close to Peorth. It may have had to do with the way she usually dressed and the goddess of the roses had no intention of bringing the subject up, especially in front of Lind. It was bad enough that the Valkyrie was critical of her attire; there was no reason to endure more of it. After all, she just added a mini skirt and had absolutely no plans to cover more skin for the time being.

"Megumi!" shouted Keiima as he and Takano reached the bottom of the staircase.

"Yes?" asked the surprised woman. 'What is it this time?'

"Since it's been such a long time, how about we drive together towards Nekomi before we leave?" asked her father.

"But we did that when we... Wait! You mean a race, right?"

"If you're up to it. Afraid to lose?"

"Not a chance! If I win, I get twice the month's allowance."

"Sounds fair, I suppose."

"Very well. Kei-chan do you want to join?"

Keiichi shook his head. It has been a long day and it was still not even afternoon yet. "Nah, I'll pass. I've got things to do, so some other time."

"Ha, you just got married and can't wait to be around Bell-chan," said his sister with a rather lecherous look on her face.

"W-what're you talking about? It's the middle of the day, Megumi!" shouted a deeply embarrassed Keiichi.

The exchange was cut short, though, as their father started his bike and after giving his son a small wave, he rushed away from the temple.

"Hey! That's cheating!" shouted Megumi as she tried to turn her own bike on.

"Looks like Keima-kun doesn't want to spend any more money today," said Takano as she got in her her car. "Don't forget to call from time to time, okay?"

"Yes, Takano!" said the couple at the same time.

As soon as she had left, Keiichi turned to Belldandy. "Oh, you remembered that she likes to be called by her name. I'd forgotten to warn you to avoid addressing her as 'mother' while she's around."

"Don't worry about it, Keiichi. I remembered, although I must insist that under no circumstances, you happen to call my parents by name."

"Of course!" nearly shouted the man, before Urd floated next to him.

"You better remember that, lover boy," said Urd in a low voice. "If you happen to call our father by name, he's going to have you polish the doors of Valhalla's main complex. All five hundred and forty of them. Spotless. Until you could see your reflection."

Keiichi gulped as he nervously scratched his head. "I-I'll keep that in mind..."

"Urd..." objected Belldandy, slight annoyance creeping into her tone. But Urd didn't care. After all, the thought of Keiichi on his hands and knees scrubbing away was just too funny.

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

There are several things I'd like to note for this chapter.

The previous Daimakaicho that is mentioned earlier in the chapter is Fafnir. In the Norse myths, he was a son of the dwarf king Hreidmar and became a dragon due to a curse. He was eventually slain by Sigurd. In this story he was the Daimakaicho before Hild got that position the first time. Additionally he's described as a bit greedy and his ultimate fate is a subject for a future chapter.

Huginn and Muninn (translates as 'thought' and 'mind' respectively) were the two ravens that Odin possessed in the Norse myths. He sent them to fly around the world every day and they returned back with information for him. They play a very similar role in this story as well, where they act as his spies.

Urd's reference ('Mr. White Rabbit') is actually from 'Alice in Wonderland'. It's due to the beginning Baldr's previous line ("Oh dear! Oh dear! I'm going to be late."), that was exactly the same with White Rabbit's famous line.


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series

* * *

Keiichi watched as Urd continued to laugh at her own little joke. Of course, he knew that calling his father-in-law by name would have been a poor decision. Still, that didn't stop the goddess of the past from teasing him, although this time he could appreciate the humor. With his family's departure, he felt a lot better as the whole situation had been too stressful.

'Speaking of families... Belldandy's uncle has arrived. I suppose it's the best to properly introduce myself now that there's nothing else getting in the way.' Keiichi realized that the god and Laguz were probably still hiding.

"Urd, where's your uncle?" he asked. "We never really managed to talk."

The bronze goddess realized he was talking about Thor, but teasing him a bit wouldn't hurt anybody. "Which one?"

"Huh?!" Now that wasn't the answer that he'd been expecting. "Oh, you mean you have more uncles? In that case, the one that's here."

"Actually we've got three..." said Urd with a wide smile, "and all of them are here. You only ran into Thor so far. The third is Baldr and currently waiting alongside his brother and Laguz in the guest room. As for the second one... He's probably hiding somewhere."

"So it was uncle Baldr that arrived earlier?" asked Belldandy. "It's lovely that he decided to show up. I've wanted to talk to him about everything that's happened so far!"

"Yeah. Me and uncle Thor got him before he accidentally made a commotion, though," added Urd with a nod. "Now, if only we knew where Loki was, then everything would be fine."

"Oh! He was with us, actually!" beamed the goddess of the present.

"He _was_?" asked Keiichi, although Urd had also raised an eyebrow at this. "How is that possible? I never saw anyone..."

"Keiichi, don't forget that we can alter our size. He was under the table and even helped me." Taking the note that Loki had written, she handed it over to Keiichi. "He was the one that decided to dent the truth and I don't think that I would have done it without his assistance. It may have been wrong to mislead your family, but I honestly believed that you needed help at that moment. Are you mad?"

Keiichi read the paper, with Urd looking over his shoulder to check it out as well. Those were indeed Belldandy's lines from before. Even that little mistake she almost made was caused due to a request that was written here. Still, there were no lies hidden anywhere; just parts of the truth were left out. In essence it was a censored, short version of what happened. "I'm not mad... It's just surprising that a god was so good at... using words this way."

"Heh, you don't know who you're dealing with," said Urd as she rolled her eyes. "He's one of Asgard's biggest pains in the..."

"Urd! That's not nice!" objected Belldandy, stopping her sister from saying anything more. "You shouldn't talk like that about our family members..."

The eldest of the Norns did offer a smile. Despite that, there was a distinctive hint of sadness in her expression. "That's a nice way to put it, Belldandy. Most others would have simply said that I was the last person to criticize him being a troublemaker myself."

"Neesan..." Belldandy wasn't happy that the conversation had taken such a turn. It was indeed true that some had often compared her with Loki, especially during their childhood. They thought that she was going to become Asgard's new prankster once she grew up and her heritage only made things worse. It was one of the reasons why her sister had always avoided that particular uncle. In fact, her playful personality had much more to do with who her mother was than the god of mischief. Thor had been her primary influence, even if most had failed to recognize this.

"Uh... Urd..." Feeling the mood, Keiichi was about to say something as well, but his sister-in-law stopped him before he even had the chance to go much further than that.

"What's with the long faces? We still have a god to catch, so let's go!" Undeterred, Urd marched towards the house, dragging the couple behind her. Both had a rather surprised expression given how easily the other goddess' mood had changed. Then again, that's one of the things they liked about her.

XXX

Tyr was enjoying a nice cup of tea. There was still a lot of work that needed to be done, but a break once in a while wouldn't hurt anyone. He had even considered inviting his daughters as a lot had happened since he last saw them. Sadly, they always got a bit edgy whenever he recalled them. Like the time that he actually attempted to invite Urd in order to spend some father-daughter time together, especially after the whole Lord of Terror incident.

It was true that he told Belldandy that he would strike Urd down if he had to, but he didn't mean in a lethal way. He thought it would have been a nice opportunity to clear up a few things with Urd. Instead, all three of his daughters made something that turned out to be a destruction program, resulting in the forceful slam of the Gate and crashing down the Yggdrasil system.

'Seriously... They always assume the worst. Who knows what they'll come up if I told them to drop by again? They act as if I'm going to keep them here forever or something.' Letting out a sigh, the god wondered if he should try a different approach with them since the current one clearly hadn't yielded the desired results. Maybe he should have asked Baldr to help him as he had practically raised them for the most part and knew them better than anyone.

'That sounds like a plan. I only need to wait until he returns and...' His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly someone entered his office without even bothering to knock. There was one person in Asgard that did that, and even then, only when she was angry.

"Ansuz! I hope that everything is alright?" asked the Daitenkaicho, although he was fully aware that his wife was positively fuming. Her winglets were pointing slightly upwards, a clear sign of her foul mood.

"No!" shouted the goddess as she slammed her hands on his desk, causing some of the paper stacks to collapse. "I am most certainly not alright!"

Tyr really hoped that Hild hadn't called her flat-chested again. Last time was bad enough. Although, if that was the case, she would've returned much sooner. "Did you and Hild get into a fight?"

"This has nothing to do with Hild. At least... I hope so." Ansuz took a moment to calm herself down before she exploded from frustration. "I need your administration codes!"

"What for? You certainly have more than enough permissions in the system," asked a puzzled Tyr. 'Just what happened over there?'

"That simply won't do. It's about the Angelic Evolution Project and even I don't have the necessary clearance to access it," said Ansuz. It was one of the rare cases where the system simply denied her any information at all.

"The whole project was shut down a long time ago. It's highly classified and even flagged as 'forbidden,' so the file is only accessible from the system's main console in the Yggdrasil Complex. Since remote access is denied by default, we have to get over there." It was one of those cases where they relied on Loki's paranoid security system that he had set up a long time ago. Tyr had always thought that his brother was just being ridiculous about the restrictions. Until he became the Daitenkaicho and actually saw some of those files; only then he realized that there were things that had to be buried and forgotten. Still, it was terrifying how much of what they knew about the world was just a lie.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" said Ansuz, starting to lose her patience as she watched her husband, who was not actually inclined to move.

Tyr had come to regret his decision to see the things hidden in the classified files. It was fuel for nightmares and, even worse, he had to keep quiet about it. The last thing he wanted was to let his wife see some of the other subjects that were flagged as 'forbidden'. While they had turned the Angelic Evolution Project into one of them, it was a mere joke in comparison to the rest.

"We're not going anywhere. At least _you_ aren't." Tyr's tone had adopted his Daitenkaicho persona, cold and impersonal. Most gods and goddesses could never argue with him when he used that. Normally he would've been shaking from the sight of his wife whenever she lost her temper, but right now, she was the terrified one. "Go to your office and I'll bring you the file in physical form. Don't even try to start an argument. It's either this or nothing at all. Understood?"

"Yes." Ansuz was taken aback by his change in attitude. It was highly unlike him to be so brisk with her for no reason. Obviously, whatever caused this change was something that he couldn't talk about. Considering that she was Asgard's second in command, it must've been really serious. "I'll go back to my office. I guess there's a lot of paperwork for me as well. Just don't forget to bring me the file."

"Don't worry. I won't." As soon as she left the office, Tyr suddenly felt tired. He really didn't want to go there, but he had to. 'Come to think of it... I never asked her why she wanted to get that information in the first place. Oh well... I guess I can do that later. I probably need to get her a gift as well; she's probably angry with the way I pulled rank on her. Just _great_...'

Deciding that dealing with this now was better, he started for the exit.

XXX

Thor the god of thunder was currently on a mission. While finding Loki was important, he felt that observing the situation was a bigger priority. Moments ago he'd left the guest room, leaving only Baldr and the artificial goddess Laguz behind. He always wondered why the most popular of his brothers never had a girlfriend. That was a problem that he'd had with Belldandy, too, but it seemed that it was no longer something he had to be worried about. Besides, Baldr was much older than his niece.

In the Fighting Wings before they made any important decisions, they always collected as much information as possible. 'That's right... I'm not spying or anything like that. It's a clinical observation of the situation.' Of course, he still hoped that the others wouldn't be in a hurry to get back in. This was one of his less... honorable reconnaissance operations. Still, he felt that he had to figure out how that kid acted around a goddess. So far, he was nearly bored to tears.

Crouched outside the room he continued to observe through a little hole in the rice paper door, but all Baldr had managed to talk about was the weather and a local lake or something... 'Maybe I should've left him with Peorth instead. If that didn't go anywhere, then I don't know what else would...' His thoughts were interrupted as he felt someone pressed herself against his back. "What are you looking at?"

Thor was startled enough to generate so much static electricity that it caused the goddess' hair to stand up despite its length. Out of all the deities in the area, she was the last one he wanted to catch him doing this. "Um... I'm just observing... Don't mind me."

"Yeah, right. Move! I want to... _observe_ too!" said Urd as she struggled to get a glimpse of what was going on inside.

Keiichi and his wife just stared at the duo, but before they had the chance to say anything, the other three goddesses came in.

"Hey, what's going on here?" asked Skuld who was eager to go back at playing another game with the others. She wouldn't admit it, but she greatly enjoyed that. After all, she didn't need to complete an anti-proton bomb right now and Sigel was still working on the rest of them. By the time she'd finish the game, Skuld was sure her explosives would be ready as well.

"Uncle Thor and Urd are apparently interested in uncle Baldr's interactions with goddesses," explained Belldandy.

While Skuld appeared to be uninterested, Peorth tried to join Urd and Thor. The latter had given up the fight for viewing privileges and now ended up with not one but two goddesses stacked on top of his crouched form. Judging by the look on his face, it was one of his less dignified moments.

"Shouldn't we resume our search now that Keiichi-kun's parents are no longer there?" Lind was trained to focus on certain goals and as soon as Urd and Thor had explained them that Loki was nowhere to be found, she thought that they should have started right away. Considering that she was partially responsible for that, Lind was eager to locate the missing god. The others, however, thought that it was probably better to wait until there were no mortals in the house.

"No need anymore. Loki's attracted by anything that's remotely interesting, so don't expect him to stay hidden for too long," said Thor. He'd heard from Belldandy that Loki had been with her earlier that afternoon. At least it was unlikely that he had the opportunity to do anything serious under those circumstances. "Once he realizes that something is going on elsewhere, he''ll just show up."

Indeed, not a moment later, the mischievous god decided to join them. He was back to his full size and wearing his usual grin. The only uncharacteristic thing about him was the fact that he was remarkably quiet. So much so that he managed to get right next to the Valkyrie without her even noticing anything, something that was not a small feat given her combat training. "Did you guys miss me that much?"

Lind nearly jumped at the sudden question. "Where did you came from?!"

"The living room, as a matter of fact. I've already helped Belldandy with her problems and now I've decided to help my brother with his as well." The god of mischief found Thor's predicament to be very humorous. It wasn't every day that the god of thunder was caught like that and the two goddesses that were on top of him was a nice touch too.

"You would've liked that, right? Too bad I deal with my own problems by myself," said the god of thunder as he got up, forcing the two goddesses to hover before they hit the floor. "Also I'm not stupid enough to believe that you were just waiting without causing any more trouble. What did you do _this_ time?"

Loki tired to look annoyed at the accusation, even though it ended up a lot more comical than one might've expected. "What are you insinuating? What even makes you so sure that I did something?"

"Because you always end up doing one thing or another. It's not a question of _if_, rather _when,_" said Thor with a casual shrug.

"Oh, _alright_! I ate all the cookies! Happy now?" asked Loki as he still tried to appear annoyed, but failed to do so.

The resulting commotion caused the ones inside the guest room to become curious and decide to check what was going on. Opening the door, Baldr was greeted by the familiar sight of his two brothers having some silly argument. However, there was also somebody that he hadn't met yet. "Oh, you must be Keiichi Morisato. I apologize for coming here uninvited, but I was instructed to bring a package here. I'm god first class, first category, unlimited license, Baldr. Pleased to meet you, Keiichi-san."

That last bit sounded very familiar as it was exactly the way that Belldandy used to address him. The mortal extended his hand just like Thor did before, but the blonde god in front of him was unsure what the gesture meant and simply stared at the mortal man.

Instead it was Loki who took his hand. "Nice to meet you too. God first class, first category, unlimited license, Loki. I've heard that you've married our niece. So, have you two done _this_ and _that_ yet?"

"Eh?!" Keiichi became as red as a tomato while the rest glared at the troublesome god. Except for Belldandy who was fiddling with her fingers in embarrassment.

"Loki!" shouted Thor as he grabbed the other god from the back of his neck and lifted him up. "What do you think you're doing, asking somebody you've just met a question like that?"

"Why are you so mad? I'm just concerned about the boy's well being," complained Loki despite the fact that his brother was still holding him up. "Mortals have a limited amount of stamina and their cardiovascular system can fail if you put them under a lot of stress. Happened once actually."

"What? When?" asked the god of thunder.

"A century or two ago, I think. Some goddess wanted to get into a relationship with a mortal and without a contract between them, there was nothing to restrain his desires. He didn't live long enough for good old Ansuz to get a chance to show up." There was a long pause as everyone was simply trying to process what they just heard.

"Hold it! That's the first time I've heard of this," said the god of thunder.

"Me too!" said Urd who pointed an accusing finger at her uncle. "You're just making stuff up!"

"First class gods can't lie, remember? Besides, what did you want me to do? Put it on Asgard's bulletin board?" asked Loki with a shrug. "Happened overnight, so it was too late to save him in time. Ansuz had me explain to the poor girl that he suffered from a heart condition. She only gives me those kind of jobs..."

"Even if that really happened, what are you up to?" asked Thor who was starting to suspect that the other god was up to something.

"Why are you so negative? I've made something to prevent him from getting harmed. That's all," explained Loki. Pulling out a small golden item that resembled a very thin coin, he allowed the others to take a look. Its surface was covered with a serious of very elaborate runes so small that they were barely visible. "It's actually capable of keeping him healthy over a long period of time. He won't need to see a doctor anymore if he attaches this on him. Not bad for a weekend's work, if I say so for myself."

Letting the god down, Thor took the item in his hands in order to examine it. "So, if he puts this on him, he's invulnerable to diseases and other conditions?"

"Not invulnerable... Just a lot tougher than normal. We need a lot more power to completely negate every harm and even then there are still limits," said Loki. "It simply draws energy from the residual forces that remain around us for a while until Yggdrasil processes that into something harmless. In other words, it's going to borrow a bit from all the goddesses that live around him, and in exchange, he's going to stay healthy."

"So that's what you were up to..." said Urd as she scratched her chin. It was a bit too good to be true. "Is there anything else that you may want to add while you're at it?"

"Oh! That's right! I found these things under the table and the batteries I got from the temple can power them. Isn't it nice?" asked the god of mischief, showing the others the listening devices that Sayoko had dropped earlier in the morning.

Despite that, most heads turned towards Skuld, who didn't appreciate the sudden attention. "Hey! Those aren't mine. Besides, why would I use something that I haven't made and even leave them without a power source?"

"Forget about that garbage," said Thor, turning to Loki. "On the other hand, what you've made can be really useful. Especially if you consider how vulnerable mortals can be. What I don't understand is why you went with the whole story, instead of just saying that it was something to keep Belldandy's husband safe."

"Well, that's correct," said Loki as he scratched his head. "But where's the fun in that?"

"I'll show you fun!" shouted the angry god. His temper caused a few electric arcs, but before things escalated even further, Belldandy decided to step in.

"Actually, that is a really thoughtful gift, uncle Loki. Although how do you use it?" asked the goddess of the present, taking the tiny golden disc in her hands.

Once Thor calmed down, Loki moved closer to his niece in order to demonstrate how to use his magical device. "It's simple, really. All you have to do is to physically attach it to your husband. The most convenient option is to put on the back of the watch that he's wearing. It would allow direct contact with him and nobody else will manage to notice it as well."

"Well? What do you think Keiichi?" Belldandy turned to her husband in hopes that he would accept the item. While he had rejected immortality, she had no desire to let him go sooner that it was absolutely necessary and Loki's device could ensure that.

Keiichi looked a bit uncertain, considering his past experiences with Urd's potions and Skuld's contraptions, but if this little disc worked properly, it could be indeed handy. "I suppose it's okay. As long as it's not going to do anything funny, I don't see why not. At least I won't have to deal with colds anymore."

The goddess of present was relieved that Keiichi had accepted the offer. The story that her uncle had told them was a sad one, and it must've been hard to lose a lover so suddenly during the night. As she thought about it, though, she suddenly realized that those events were not unrelated. 'Hold on... Did he actually meant that a mortal's body couldn't handle a goddess during _that_?' Belldandy was certain that this was not the case, unless she happened to completely lose control of her power.

It was bad enough that Keiichi knew about her jealousy storms; letting him think that she could fry him in such a manner was even worse. Then again, he didn't look particularly worried after hearing this and even when he learned that their true forms were much different from their current ones, he never gave up on her. 'I'm probably worrying over nothing. But... it's still rather embarrassing to think about this.'

"Excellent!" beamed Loki, happy to see that the mortal was going to use his invention. While not particularly flashy, it was a nightmare to make, mainly due to the insufficient energy that he had to work with. The best he had available was the residual energy that the goddesses left behind and that was barely enough to power it. The level of optimization for that was simply ridiculous, but in the end it payed off.

"Actually your father has something for you as well, Belldandy," said Baldr, holding up the wrapped package he was carrying with him all this time.

"Oh, that's so nice of him! Please offer him my thanks when you return back to Asgard." Belldandy took both the gifts and decided that it was the best to keep them in the room she now shared with Keiichi. She could later ask Skuld to attach Loki's invention to Keiichi's watch and take a look at what her father had sent her. "Excuse me for a moment everyone! I'll have to take these items to our room. In the meanwhile, why don't you all wait in the living room. It's been a while since we had a family gathering like this and I'd like to make some tea for you as well."

"That actually sounds like a great idea, Belldandy!" said Keiichi. At least this time he could relax a bit. There was no need to come up with any excuses in order to hide up something, as almost everyone here was either a god or a goddess. He was kind of curious to learn a bit more about his wife's family as well. Especially since he knew very little in the first place.

"That's fine. But I'll join you in a second; I have something to take care first," said Urd as she headed towards her room. She did however reach out and grab Loki from his robes and started to drag him along.

"What gives, Urd?!" protested the unhappy god, who was trying and failing to release himself from the goddess' iron grip.

Belldandy had already left to her room and the other goddesses joined Keiichi in the living room. Only Loki's brothers were left behind to look at this spectacle.

"I need you in my room for a moment," said Urd without even bothering to stop.

"_Your_ room? No way! I'm not a lab rat. I mean... I could help you, just don't try your potions on me..." Loki was still attempting to free himself though Urd showed no signs of letting him go. The desperate god turned to his two brothers. "Hey! Tell her to stop or something, will you? My well being is under threat!"

However, the only thing that the other gods did was to wave him goodbye.

"I'm being oppressed and nobody even cares... Some family..." muttered Loki before he was out of sight and into the lion's den. Or more specifically, Urd's room.

"Well," said Thor as they turned to walk towards the living room. "He always wanted to get into a goddess' room."

Baldr was a bit skeptical about that. "Um... I don't think that's what he wanted, though."

"I know," laughed Thor. "Let's hope she goes easy on him. I don't particularly want to see him trying to get her back for this. His pranks can get out of hand at times."

"I really hope that's the case," said Baldr, before they entered the living room. "It would be nice if Urd learns to get along with him as well."

XXX

At an abandoned arcade, a nude female figure rested inside a coffin. While it almost looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie, whatever atmosphere might have existed was ruined by a loud snore that was driving the rundown building's other occupant insane.

"Geez, she really makes a lot of noise when she's tired..." said the childlike version of the Daimakaicho. She was a mere one thousandth part of her real self that was left behind in Nekomi to oversee Mara's activities as well as the goddesses. Especially her daughter, who avoided her like the plague, no matter what Hild tried to do.

She had learned to deal with Urd. This noise, on the other hand, was a different story. It was obvious that her minion had a bad day, but that was no excuse to be so loud. Besides it was past noon and she was still asleep. Someone had to wake her up and Hild was more than happy to oblige.

Remembering one of Loki's pranks, she summoned an insulated container of liquid nitrogen. The god of mischief had once doused a Valkyrie with it while she was asleep on duty. As a matter of fact that was Ansuz, back when she was still a captain of the war goddesses. Hild had never expected the goddess to know so many curse words given her otherwise innocent appearance.

Taking a last look at the sleeping blonde, the Daimakaicho opened the container and simply dumped the clear fluid onto her servant's exposed torso. Of course, such an action would've had devastating effects on a mortal, by leaving terrible frost burns. An immortal on the other hand was merely going to feel a bit uncomfortable. However, it could really startle them, especially if they never saw it coming.

Indeed, the scream was loud enough to bring some patches of paint down as the whole place shook violently.

'Great, now my ears are ringing...' thought Hild, who realized that perhaps this was one of her not so bright ideas. After all she did try to imitate Loki and that was bound to cause her trouble since many of his pranks happened to backfire.

"H-Hild-sama! What happened?!" shouted Mara, who was still not fully awake and struggling to understand what woke her so abruptly. Or why she was covered with those cold fumes.

"Well, it was about time you graced me with your presence, Ma-chan," said Hild. She had already gotten rid of the container, but there was little doubt that it was her the one that did this. Unless her assistant was a bit slow to realize it. "Today is busy , so I can't have you sleeping all day long."

Mara let a groan as she was not particularly looking forward for doing anything. Yesterday she'd had to deal with more things that she could handle and that blasted wedding gave her a really bad migraine. Even the electric bills that Urd gave her did little to ease her discomfort. 'Darn mortal puppy and his lovey-dovey atmosphere nearly made me sick. Ugh... It gives me the chills to even remember that.'

"Don't give me that attitude!" warned Hild, noticing Mara's expression. "It's your day after all, so you should've been looking forward to it."

The blonde was a bit puzzled. There was nothing different about this day unless she forgot something. "Uh... Hild-sama, is there something special today?"

"Of course! I have to reward you for being such a good underling," said Hild with a big smile. "You don't think that I would've forgotten that you remained loyal even though you could've just abandoned me."

"R-really, Hild-sama?!" wondered the blonde demoness. Mara was used at being punished for messing up all the time, but this is the first time in a long while that she's actually going to get something back for her hard efforts. 'She's a good boss after all.'

"Of course! Have I ever lied before? Actually... scratch that. But you know what I mean," said Hild. "It's the real deal this time. I've found you a nice job."

Mara was ecstatic. If the Daimakaicho herself found her a job, then who knows how high up in the demonic chain of command she was going to end up. She could almost feel all her years of hard work paying off at last! "Which realm is it in?"

"Midgard."

"Oh! Is it one of our operations here then?" said Mara. She was a tad disappointed, but at the very least she could still hang out with Urd once in a while. So maybe it wasn't a total disaster.

"Not really. I just happened to notice this advertisement in the newspaper and thought to get you the job. You can thank me later," said the little Daimakaicho with a smile. She even handed her the paper with the ad in question already circled. "Just wear something nice and we'll get there in no time."

_'Whirlwind, Nekomi's fastest growing garage, is expanding! We're looking for a new salesman/saleswoman to help us in our shop. Contact info below.'_

Mara's hopes and dreams shattered as she realized that this was just a low level job on Earth. Even worse, it was in the same blasted place that Keiichi and Belldandy worked. She was unsure whether she should laugh or cry. '_That's_ a reward?'

Hild was not amused with the blonde's reluctance. Giving her smack on her backside to make her snap out of it, she repeated her instructions, hoping that his time the demoness would get it. "Just put something on and let's go already!"

"Y-yes, Hild-sama!" shouted Mara.

XXX

_Asgard, Main Yggdrasil complex._

Tyr was walking through the corridors of the giant structure that surrounded the Tree of Life. Aptly named, the tree itself was a crucial part of the cosmos, especially in providing the right conditions for life to exist in the various realms.

Gods had added several layers to the initial building, making it progressively larger over time and even more complicated. In its current form it was nearly a maze that one needed a map to navigate through. The real problem was that the building was designed with functionality and safety as the main goals and not aesthetics. While it looked fine from the outside, the inner corridors were all over the place, almost resembling an insect colony.

The walls were also heavily reinforced and extremely thick, which partially explained the weird architecture, since the weight distribution was very had to manage on such a scale. As a matter of fact, it was more similar to a multilayer vault than anything else.

Most celestials simply assumed that it was due to the fact that Yggdrasil was extremely important for their everyday lives. Most of the huge chambers in the complex were filled with machines and gods or goddesses that supervised them on a constant basis.

However, there was also a darker side to the tree. It maintained order in realms, not life as they all assumed. The latter was a mere byproduct of that process instead of the goal.

On the other hand, Nidhogg, the infernal dragon, was a harbinger of destruction and chaos; the polar opposite of Yggdrasil. That was the main reason why those creatures were eternally entangled in a struggle to overcome one another. Even though Yggdrasil managed to imprison the dragon and keep it away from the world, it took most of the tree's strength to do so, leaving it in a weakened state. Of course that meant little considering that those creatures possessed an infinite amount of power. More likely they were both asleep and inactive for most of the time, leaving gods and demons alone.

Entering the room, Tyr noticed that everything was exactly the same. The old command center was also acting as Yggdrasil's main console and linked directly to the lowest level hardware of the supercomputer, before it connected to the tree itself. It was ancient by every meaning of the world, a relic that was built millions of years ago. It wasn't the very first one, though.

Most regular operations were conducted from the new command center that his daughter worked in as an administrator. But extremely critical ones had to be handled from here, thus it was risky to make any changes while the system was running. Since they rarely, if ever, shut the system down, there was no opportunity to make any changes willingly, leaving only one possibility as to what have happened to the previous versions of this room. They were destroyed, but he wasn't aware of any more details, as they weren't recorded anywhere. Especially in the public archives.

There were lots of things that were not meant to be accessible by the general populace and over time the ones that were aware of them decreased in number. It was entirely possible that the ones that knew were reluctant to pass that burden to the others. Especially after the war with the demons where a lot of the older gods had lost their lives, taking those secrets with them. That reminded him the exchange he had with his wife where he had to stop her from getting in here while he searched through the 'forbidden' topics. After all, many facts about the tree were indeed a lie to keep everyone from being afraid of it.

When the gods first tried to establish contact with the Tree of Life and asked it what its name was, the response was ambiguous. At least, according to the official history books that were widely available to most celestials. In the actual record, its simple reply was 'Tree of Terror'. Even the construction of the Yggdrasil control system wasn't due to convenience, in order to automate the interface between themselves and the tree, but rather to contain it. Those that directly communicated with it lost their minds.

Of course, the tree itself was very reluctant to talk to any of them under any circumstances, but they still had to be certain that somebody wouldn't try to attempt that. In fact, in the entire recorded history there was no incident where Yggdrasil attempted to contact with them in any shape or form. They were the ones that couldn't keep their curiosity under control and ended up making stupid mistakes. In the end, though, containing Yggdrasil was considered as the safest option, since it would avoid certain questions in case another incident were to happen.

Only mindless machines could stand a conversation with it and even then only at a very simplistic level. That was also the main reason why they had to supervise the system at all times instead of using an AI to do it.

Taking a seat and logging himself into the system, he searched until he found the files that his wife had requested. A few instructions later and the data was copied to a physical disc that he had to personality deliver to her, just in case. He had often accused his father in the past for being too secretive and paranoid, but now that he had to do the same, he felt a pang of guilt at the way he'd treated him. At the very least he needed to try and do something for Ansuz in order to make up for being as rude as he had been.

With the transfer complete, he logged out and headed towards her office.

* * *

AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.

Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.

There are several things I'd like to note for this chapter.

The forbidden topics are a category of highly classified files in Asgard. In the manga, Belldandy tried at one point to tell Urd about the situation between her divine and demonic sides. However, as soon as she did that, Yggdrasil silenced her in order to prevent the disclosure of information that was considered to be sensitive. Most of the topics mentioned here are far more serious and they are currently only accessible by very few. Tyr is one of them, but Ansuz despite her rank, has no access.

The Tree of Life, is mentioned as being the "Tree of Terror". As a matter of fact, this is a possible way of translating its name if it comes from the word yggr (terror). There are other more popular ways of explaining its name and those involve Odin's name. However, in this story I didn't want the tree to be that closely associated with any certain entity and chose the other possible name. Technically the whole thing should read as "Tree of Terror, gallows".

Despite its rather scary nature, the tree is absolutely essential for life to exist. That doesn't necessary mean that it is benevolent, though. As a matter of fact, it's only enforcing order in the world, while Nidhogg wishes for chaos. Any moral affiliations are alien to those entities, since they don't have a meaning to them. Neither of them is good or bad, in a way that most people would understand.

They are extremely complicated though and trying to communicate with them directly can be hazardous, since the can overwhelm and eventually damage the minds of lesser beings, like gods and demons for example.

Because of that, both sides use computers to handle all the interactions with the Tree of Life and even then, those are not sentient machines. Skuld had already made two robots that have their own will and if a child could do that, then it's kind of interesting why they manually control the systems instead of having a sophisticated AI to do that. In this story the explanation is that the can't use something like that. An AI would be corrupted in no time. Only simplistic algorithms can avoid that particular problem.


End file.
